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On Wednesday, April 22, Italy's Civil Protection Agency reported 437 new deaths from the coronavirus, a drop from Tuesday's 534. There was an increase in the daily tally of new cases; an increase to 3,370 from 2,729 on Tuesday. The number of confirmed cases in Italy now stands at 187,327, the third highest global total after the United States and Spain. The number of active cases fell to 107,699 from 107,709 on Tuesday, a third consecutive daily decline. A grim milestone was crossed in Italy today. The death toll crossed 25,000 deaths, the tally now stands at 25,085 - the second-highest in the world after that of the United States.

On Tuesday, April 21, Spain saw a slight increase in its daily coronavirus death toll. The government reported 430 deaths in 24 hours, an increase from Monday's 399 deaths. This is still quite an improvement from April 2nd's peak of 950 deaths. Monday's death toll was the lowest figure in a month. Spain has the third-highest coronavirus fatality rate after the United States and Italy. The number of confirmed cases in the country has grown to 204,178, the second-highest number of cases in the world, after the US which has more than 790,000 cases. 31,788 of the confirmed cases are medical staff. Recoveries are also growing, with 82,518 recoveries as of Tuesday. A lockdown was enforced in Spain on March 14 and will be extended until May 9th. However, the lockdown conditions will be eased on April 27, allowing kids to spend some time outdoors.

It's been two years already since Swedish EDM producer/DJ Avicii passed away. F riday, April 20, 2018 was a tragic day for Avicii fans and family, and for the music world at large with Avicii's passing in Muscat, Oman. Avicii's music continues to captivate audiences even after his passing. Here are seven songs to remember Avicii by. 1. Levels 2. Wake Me Up 3. The Nights 4. Hey Brother 5. Waiting For Love 6. Lonely Together 7. Heaven

On Monday, April 20, Spain registered 4,266 new coronavirus cases, increasing its total number of coronavirus cases from 195,944 to 200,210 - the nation has passed another grim coronavirus milestone. Spain is the second country to have more than 200,000 coronavirus cases, after the US which has 750,000+.  399 coronavirus deaths were registered in Spain today, bringing the death tally from 20,453 to 20,852. Today is the first time since March 22 that Spain's daily coronavirus death toll has fallen below 400. Spain had its peak in deaths on April3 when 932 deaths were reported.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, Covid-19 claimed the lives of close to 1,900 Americans on Saturday, and the total death toll from the virus topped 40,000 by Sunday afternoon (40,585 deaths to be precise). Johns Hopkins University's Covid-19 tracker counts more than 742,000 coronavirus cases in the US and over 2.3 million worldwide. Coronavirus testing in the US stands at 150,000 tests/day, and Harvard researchers have warned that testing must go up to 500,000 people/day if the US economy is to reopen in May. They also said the number of positive tests must decrease, as 20% of those currently tested get positive results. The World Health Organization recommends a 3% to 12% range of positive tests for the economy to reopen.  On Saturday,  White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx presented data showing the US reports 11.24 deaths per 100,000 people, a rate lower than those of countries like Spain, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, France an

On Friday, April 17, Italy's Civil Protection Agency reported a slight increase in the daily coronavirus death toll - 50 more than Thursday's 525. Friday's coronavirus daily death toll climbed to 575. The overall coronavirus death toll has grown to 22,745 - the second highest in the world after the US. There was a small decline in the number of new cases - 293 less than Thursday's. There were thus 3,493 new cases on Friday.  The total number of confirmed cases in Italy has grown to 172,434, the third highest coronavirus death toll in the world behind the US and Spain. For the fourteenth consecutive day, the number of patients in intensive care declined. There were 124 less coronavirus patients in intensive care on Friday - a decline from 2,936 to 2,812.

On Friday, April 17, Spain registered its highest daily rise in coronavirus cases in more than a week - 5,252 cases (a 2.8% increase). This takes the total number of confirmed cases to 188,068. 74,797 of the confirmed cases have recovered. There were 585 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours. This takes the total number of confirmed fatalities in the country to 19,478. Spain's Health Minister revealed that 930,230 coronavirus tests have been carried out in the country since the beginning of the crisis. Health Minister Salvador Illa at a press conference on Friday said: "It is Friday of the fifth week of drastic measures. The average increase in infections from Friday to Friday was 25.1% in the first week, 18.2% in the second, 9.1% in the third, 4.2% in the fourth and this week 2.6% despite the increase in the number of tests. [...] This leads us to conclude that the measures adopted by the government are working."

On April 16, Italy’s Civil Protection Agency reported a decrease in daily coronavirus deaths – 525 deaths, down from Wednesday’s 578. This was the lowest daily death toll in a week. The total death tally from the virus now stands at 22,170. There was a sharp increase in new cases – an acceleration from Wednesday’s 2,667 to 3,786. This takes the total number of confirmed cases to 168,941. Italy has the third-highest number of confirmed cases, behind the US and Spain. As of Thursday, 40,164 people had recovered, an increase from Wednesday’s 38,092 recoveries. There has been a continuous decline in the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units – 2,936 people, down from Wednesday’s 3,079.

On Thursday, April 16, Spain reported the highest number of daily new coronavirus cases in seven days. 5,183 new infections were recorded in 24 hours, taking the total tally to 182,816. This is an increase from Wednesday's 5,092 new cases. 551 more coronavirus deaths were recorded, bringing the total number of deaths to 19,130. Spain has the second-highest number of cases behind the US, and the second-highest death toll in Europe behind Italy. Recoveries are also increasing as 3,944 people were declared coronavirus-free today, an increase from Wednesday's 3,349. A total of 74,797 people have recovered so far. In an interview with Cadena Ser radio today, Social Security Minister Jose Luis Escriva said easing of lockdown restrictions will happen " in phases, by sectors and maybe even geographies".

On Monday, April 13, 2020, Italy reported a decline in the number of new coronavirus cases reported – 3,153 new cases, down from Sunday’s 4,092 new cases. The total number of coronavirus cases in Italy has shot up to 159,516. 1.05 million people have been tested this far. Italy’s Civil Protection Agency reported 566 deaths from the virus, an increase from Monday’s 431. The total number of fatalities in Italy now stands at 20,465. So far, 35,435 people have recovered. There has been a decline in the number of patients in intensive care for the 10 th consecutive day. Giovanni Rezza, the head of the infectious diseases department at Rome’s national health institute, told a news conference :  “We’re still in Phase 1, for sure .  We see positive signals, but the number of deaths is still high, as it reflects previous cases of contagion.”

According to Johns Hopkins University data, the daily death toll from the coronavirus fell to 1,557, a decrease from Saturday's 1,877 and Friday's 2,108. The US has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world - 550,000 confirmed cases, and more than 22,000 deaths. The global death toll has surpassed 114,000 deaths and 1.85 million coronavirus cases. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was on NBC'S "Today" show and said the US is "nearing the peak right now". "You'll know when you're at the peak when the next day is less than the day before," he said. "We are stabilizing across the country in terms of the state of this outbreak."

On Saturday, April 11, Italy's Civil Protection Agency reported 619 coronavirus deaths - up from Friday's 570. From February 21 when Italy recorded its first death from the virus, 19,468 people have died from the virus in Italy. There were 4,694 new cases recorded on Saturday, which takes the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 152,271. Italy's Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, on Friday night, announced the creation of a task force dedicated to tackling the effects of the pandemic. The said task force will be headed by Vittorio Colao - Vodafone's former CEO. PM Conte also announced an extension of the lockdown - which has been in place since March 9 - to May 3.

On Saturday, April 11, Spain's Health Ministry reported 510 fatalities from the coronavirus crisis - a drop in the daily death toll for a third consecutive day. 4,830 new cases were reported. The total number of cases now stand at 161,852. Spain has the third-highest number of fatalities from the virus after the United States and Italy. Given the slowdown in the rate of new infections and coronavirus deaths, the government will start unwinding lockdown measures in a gradual process. From Monday, workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors will be allowed to return to work, so thousands will be back at work.  At a joint press conference with Health Minister Salvador Illa, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said: "We are still in the confinement phase... We haven’t begun any relaxation (of the restrictions)." The guidelines issued by the prime minister's office require that companies returning to work provide appropriate protective equipment

On Saturday, April 11, the US became the first country to report more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in a day. Its death toll is now 18,781. The US has overtaken Italy - which has a death toll of 18,849 - as the country with the most coronavirus deaths. Despite reaching such a grim milestone, Dr. Deborah Birx,  coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, on Friday said that the US has not yet "reached the peak" of the pandemic. On Friday, POTUS Trump said he was creating a second task force dedicated to the reopening of the country. "This is beyond economic," Trump said at the White House on Friday as he explained the group's mission. "I call it the 'opening our country task force' or 'opening our country council,' so we don't get it confused with" the primary White House task force. 

On Thursday, April 9, Italy's Civil Protection Agency reported 4,204 new cases, an increase from Wednesday's 3,836. Total confirmed cases in Italy sum up to 143,626 - the third highest tally behind the United States and Spain. The daily death toll also increased from 542 on Wednesday to 610 on Thursday. The total number of coronavirus fatalities in Italy now stands at 18,279. Reports show that 100 Italian doctors have died from Covid-19 after contracting the virus.

On Thursday, April 9, Spain's Health Ministry reported 683 new deaths, an increase smaller than Wednesday's 757. The total number of deaths in Spain has now risen to 15,238. There were 5,756 new coronavirus cases recorded, pushing the total number of cases above 150,000 (152,446). The number of new infections has been on the rise for three consecutive days. There were 5,478 new infections yesterday. 52,165 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Spain. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defended his proposed extension of the lockdown in the country to at least April 26, at congress. He also called for solidarity in the EU as he said: "The EU is in danger if there is no solidarity. The EU is in danger if there is no solidarity. This scenario requires strength. Cuts and austerity are not the way forward."

On Wednesday, April 8, the daily death toll from the coronavirus in Italy dropped, as the increase in deaths was 542, lower than Tuesday's 604. The total death tally from the virus in the country now stands at 17,669 - the highest in the world. There was an increase in the rate of new infections, 3,836, higher than Tuesday's 3,039. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 139,422. Italy has the third-highest number of cases, with the United States and Spain topping in first and second position respectively. So far, 26,491 people have recovered from Covid-19 - the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus - in Italy.

On Wednesday, April 8, the UK's coronavirus death toll crossed the 7,000 mark, as 936 more deaths were recorded. England's National Health Service has confirmed 828 more people have died in its hospitals, aged between 22 and 103 years old. 46 of the 828 dead had no underlying health conditions. Scotland has confirmed 306 more cases and 77 more deaths, and Public Health Wales has confirmed 284 more cases and 33 more deaths. Northern Ireland confirmed 5 deaths. The sum of deaths from all four UK territories amounts to 936 deaths in 24 hours. This is the highest daily death toll from the virus recorded in the UK. The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is coronavirus positive was admitted in hospital on Sunday as his condition worsened. He was moved to intensive care on Monday night as he got worse. Today, his spokesman said he is "responding to treatment" and is in a stable condition. "The PM is not working, he’s in intensive care, he has the ability to c

On Wednesday, April 8, Spain's coronavirus daily death toll increased for a second successive day. 757 deaths were recorded, up from Tuesday's 743. However, the daily increase as a percentage of the total death toll was 5.5 percent, down from Tuesday's 5.7 percent. The total number of coronavirus deaths in the country now stands at 14,555, making Spain Europe's second-hardest-hit country after Italy.  The highest number of daily deaths was registered last Thursday - 950, then the daily death toll fell for four days straight. The number of new infections increased by 4.4% (6,180 new cases) to 146,690. So far, 48,021 people have made a full recovery from Covid-19 in Spain.

On Tuesday, April 7, France became the fourth country to hit and surpass the 10,000 coronavirus deaths milestone - a rather grim milestone. In France, 7,091 coronavirus deaths were recorded in hospital and 3,237 in old age homes - a total of 10,328 deaths. 597 coronavirus deaths were recorded in hospitals on Tuesday. Italy, Spain and the United States are the other three countries that have registered more than 10,000 deaths from Covid-19 complications. Jérôme Salomon, the head of France's public health authority, told a press conference: "We are in the ascending phase of the epidemic, even if it is slowing a bit," he warned. "We have not yet reached the peak." According to Johns Hopkins University data, the global number of confirmed coronavirus cases now exceed 1.3 million, including more than 285,000 recoveries and more than 75,000 deaths.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO and co-founder has just pledged to donate $1 billion to fight the coronavirus pandemic - the largest pledged amount by a private individual so far. Dorsey is also the CEO and co-founder of Square Inc. - a payments platform. Dorsey announced his decision to donate $1 billion via Twitter, where he said he would make the donation using $1 billion in Square shares - approximately 28% of his estimated net worth.  “After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girl’s health and education, and UBI,” Dorsey said. “Why UBI and girl’s health and education? I believe they represent the best long-term solutions to the existential problems facing the world. UBI is a great idea needing experimentation,” Dorsey tweeted. To ensure transparency, Dorsey said all of the share donations would be tracked through a public Google Sheet. Other coronavirus relief top donors include Bill and Melinda Gates, who have promised to donate $100 million which makes up l

Tuesday, April 7, has been the worst day for the US amid the coronavirus pandemic. 1,736 deaths had been recorded as of 8:00 pm Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. New York State, the worst-affected state accounted for majority of the deaths recorded - 731. New York's total death tally now stands at 5,489. Total coronavirus infections in the state have reached 138,836. The total number of coronavirus cases in the US have exceeded 395,000, and deaths surpassed 12,700. African Americans account for 72% of coronavirus deaths in Chicago, though they make up only 30% of the population. The percentage is slightly lower in Louisiana, with blacks accounting for 70% of the state's coronavirus deaths. Approximately 33% of the population in Louisiana is African American.

After the increase in daily deaths recorded in Italy on Monday, the daily death toll dropped on Tuesday, April 7. 604 new deaths were recorded, an improvement from Monday's 636. Italy is still the world's hardest-hit country with a total death tally of 17,127 coronavirus deaths.  There was also some improvement in the number of new cases recorded, as there were fewer new cases recorded. 3,039 new cases were recorded, a decrease from Monday's 3,599. From March 17 to April 5, daily increases were in the range of 4,050 to 6,557. Italy has registered 135,586 coronavirus cases since the outbreak began. The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care has also declined. On Tuesday, there were 3,792 patients in intensive care, a decrease from Monday's 3,898. So far, 24,392 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Italy.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as of Tuesday, April 7th in the morning, Germany has recorded more than 103,300 cases and recorded more than 1,900 deaths. On Tuesday, the number of cases rose by 3,834 in 24 hours. So far, more than 36,000 people have recovered from Covid-19 - the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Economics postdoctoral researcher Dr. Jean Roch Donsimoni, told The Local that the total number of coronavirus cases will grow throughout, "all the way to September". "What we will expect to see dropping is the number of new cases every day and that will happen as we approach the peak," he said. “If indeed the current policies in place continue as initially planned – that means the shutdown lasts from March 14th until April 19th – then, using our model, we predict that at the peak of the pandemic, we will see between 0.2 and 1.5 million individuals actively infected with Covid-19. “This figure only tak

On Tuesday, April 7, Spain's coronavirus daily death toll rose, after falling for 4 straight days. 743 deaths were recorded, taking Spain's total tally of deaths to 13,798. 5,478 new cases were recorded - a 4.1% rise - taking the total number of confirmed infections to 140,510. On Monday, the number of new cases only rose by 3.3%.  Mari Angels Rodriguez, a nurse at the Hospital Josep Trueta hospital in Girona in northeastern Spain told AFP the workload in the ICUs had decreased. "The collapse in the first few days was brutal, everyone was coming to emergency services, all the usual causes as well as all the possible cases of COVID-19." "What wears me out the most is seeing young and middle aged people, without chronic conditions, who arrive in moderate shape and quickly end up in the intensive care unit (ICU)." "The other day a 17-year-old girl was admitted to hospital and the next day she was in the ICU. It is full of young people. Psychol

As of Monday, April 6th, the coronavirus death toll in the US stands at 10,522. The number of cases as of afternoon, the coronavirus count in the US stands at 357,036. The US has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world. New York State is the worst hit state in the US, with 131,000 cases. The mayor of New Orleans has asked for help with more refrigeration given that mortuaries in New Orleans are already out of space. Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Michigan hospitals "are running dangerously low on PPE". "At Beaumont hospital, we have less than three days before N95 masks run out. At Henry Ford health system, we have less than four days," Whitmer said. In some hospitals, "there are less than three days until face shields run out, and less than six days until surgical gowns run out," she added.

On Monday, April 6, Italy registered a slight surge in new deaths - 636 deaths, higher than Sunday's tally of 525 new deaths. However, the number of new cases dropped sharply - an increase of 3,599 cases. This is the lowest rise in new cases recorded in Italy since March 17. Before March 17, the daily rise in new cases ranged between 4,050 and 6,557. There are now 132,547 coronavirus cases in Italy. Of those, 22,837 have recovered.  The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care has declined for three successive days. There were 3,898 people in intensive care, down 79 on Sunday. As of today, 16,523 people have died from coronavirus in Italy - the highest number of fatalities of any other country.

Spain has continued to see a downward trend in its daily new coronavirus cases and deaths. On Monday, April 6, 4,273 new coronavirus cases and 637 new deaths were recorded. This is the fourth consecutive day of decline in new deaths and cases. Spain reached its peak on April 2 with 950 deaths, and has seen a continuous decline in new deaths since then. As of today, the total death toll from the virus in Spain stands at 13,055, among 135,032 confirmed cases.  Out of 60,000 hospitalized people, 40,000 have recovered from Covid-19 and have been discharged from hospital.  A total of 6,931 patients have passed through one of Spain’s intensive care units (ICUs) since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.  The global death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus has surpassed 70,000, and the number of confirmed infections has risen above 1.28 million.

On Sunday, April 5, France reported its lowest daily coronavirus death toll in a week - 357 deaths. The total number of deaths from the virus now stands at 8,078. This number consists of 2,189 people in old age homes and other medical facilities and 5,889 patients who died in hospital. 748 more people were admitted in hospital for coronavirus treatment. The total number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in France now stands at 28,891. 6,948 of those hospitalized are in a critical state in intensive care. The number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 92,839.

On Sunday, April 5 the UK's coronavirus death toll rose by 621 to 4,934 deaths. The Department of Health reported that, as of 9am on Sunday, a total of 195,524 people have been tested, of which 47,806 tested positive. This morning, Professor Neil Ferguson predicted that between 7,000 and 20,000 people in the UK may die from Covid-19.  Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Government wasn't imminently looking to tighten the rules on exercising outdoors - but further measures could follow if people do not follow them. Queen Elizabeth addressed the nation amid the coronavirus crisis, vowing: "We will succeed - and that success will belong to every one of us."

The US reported the highest number of coronavirus-related deaths in a day on Saturday, April 4, with 1,344 deaths. As of Sunday, April 5, the nationwide death toll has climbed to at least 9,400 deaths, with at least 330,263 cases, according to Worldometers. Today, Anthony S. Fauci, the US' top infectious disease expert on Sunday said the coming week would be a tough one for Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic. “This is going to be a bad week,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, declared in an interview on CBS News's “Face the Nation.” “Unfortunately, if you look at the projection of the curves, of the kinetics of the curves, we're going to continue to see an escalation.”

On Sunday, April 5, Spain recorded a further sharp decline in the number of coronavirus deaths recorded. From Saturday's 809, the daily death toll fell to 674. The number of new coronavirus cases also declined, with 6,023 people testing positive, a drop from Saturday's 7,026 new cases, and Friday's 7,472 new cases. The total number of coronavirus cases in Spain now stand at 130,759, while its death toll has surpassed 12,000. On Saturday, Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez announced an extension to the current three-week lockdown - to April 25. He also warned that despite the country finally being "in a position to bend the curve", they weren't yet out of the woods, as he added: " If the climb has been hard, let's not fool ourselves, the descent will not be smoother. "We are facing the great crisis of our lives." "The victory that puts an end to it will only come with a vaccine that unfortunately will take a few months,

Italy reported its lowest single-day coronavirus deaths in 15 days on Sunday, April 5. The death toll on Sunday was reported to be 525 deaths, the lowest since March 19. 4,316 new cases were recorded, a drop from Saturday's 4,805. The total number of coronavirus cases in Italy stands at 128,948. In the hard-hit northern region of Lombardy, citizens are required to  shield their mouths and noses with masks or other coverings when leaving their homes. According to the Interior Ministry, Italian police have fined over 175,000 people since March 11 for violating lockdown rules. Today, on NBC's Meet the Press, Italy's Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte said he can't yet say when Italy's lockdown would end.

A couple in India's central state of Chhattisgarhhave named their newborn twins Corona and Covid, in honor of the prevailing circumstances of their birth - the coronavirus lockdown in India. The twins, a boy and a girl, were born on March 27, two days after India's central giovernment ordered a nation-wide lockdown. "The delivery happened after facing several difficulties and therefore, my husband and I wanted to make the day memorable," Preeti Verma, the 27-year-old mother of the twins, told news agency Press Trust of India. She said her and husband had no help as their relatives could not reach Raipur as a result of the lockdown. "With vehicular movement stopped, we both made it to the hospital somehow late at night after a lot of suffering. Since the deliveries happened after such difficulties, we wanted the names to be memorable and unique," she told the DPA news agency. The couple decided to name the kids Corona and Covid after hospital worker

809 people have died from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Spain - a significant drop from Friday's 932 deaths. This is lowest daily death toll recorded in Spain in seven days.  This represents a 7% increase in total deaths, about a third of the near 20% increase registered a week ago. So far, 11,744 people have died from the virus in Spain.  The lowest day-on-day increase of coronavirus cases was also recorded in the country - 5.9% increase - with 7,027 new cases. This takes the total tally of cases to 124,736. There has been a 1.8% increase the number of patients in intensive care. There are currently 6,532 coronavirus patients in ICU units in Spain. 34,219 patients have recovered from Covid-19 and have been discharged from hospital.  Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, will ask parliament to extend lockdown measures in Spain by 15 more days until 26 April to keep the spread of the virus in check.

On Friday, March 3, Italy registered 766 more deaths from the coronavirus crisis. A slightly higher daily toll than Thursday's - 6 more. The total death tally from the coronavirus crisis in Italy stands at 14,681. 77 health personnel have died from coronavirus since the outbreak began in Italy. In the last 24 hours, 1,480 people have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 19,758. The rate of new infections has continued to slow, with an increase of 2,339 cases in 24 hours - 138 less than Thursday. In sum, 119,827 people have been infected by the coronavirus in Italy. There are 85,388 active coronavirus cases in Italy (excluding recoveries). Emergency Commissioner Angelo Borrelli said the lockdown in Italy could be extended until May 1.

Spain with the second-highest coronavirus death toll in the world, has further extended this grim record. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 932 more lives in the country over the past 24 hours, taking its total number of deaths to 10,935. This is a slight decrease from Thursday's 950. More than half of these deaths have come in the past seven days. 7,472 new coronavirus cases were recorded - a 6.8% increase. The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stand at 117,710. 3,500 people have recovered from coronavirus in Spain since yesterday. So far, 30,513 people have recovered.

On Thursday, April 2, the US recorded its highest daily number of deaths from the coronavirus crisis as officials reported more than 1100 new deaths - 1,169 to be precise. This is the highest one-day toll recorded in any country. Its tally of confirmed cases grew to more than 240,000 and deaths surpassed 5,800.  The number of people infected by the coronavirus worldwide has surged above 1 million, and the number who have died of the disease rose above 52,000. On Thursday, US coronavirus taskforce coordinator, Deborah Birx, said "The most important thing is the social distancing and washing your hands, and we don't want people to get an artificial sense of protection because they're behind a mask." She emphasized that though the White House is expected to urge everyone across the country to begin wearing cloth masks or face coverings in public to dampen the spread of the virus, the masks should be considered an additive piece and not a substitute for social dist

On Thursday, April 2, the daily coronavirus death toll in Italy rose slightly, from 727 on Wednesday to 760. The total number of deaths registered now stands at 13,915, according to reports from Italy's Civil Protection Agency. Italy has the world's highest coronavirus death toll, and accounts for approximately 28% of all global fatalities from the virus. So far, 18,278 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Italy. A slightly lower number of new infections were recorded - 4,782, down from Wednesday's 4,668. The grand total of coronavirus infections in Italy stands at 115,242. For four consecutive days now, the number of new infections have been in the range of 4,000 to 4,800, which suggests the epidemic has hit a plateau in Italy.

According to the Department of Health figures in the UK, a total of 2,921 coronavirus patients have died in the UK, following a surge of 569 deaths over the last 24 hours. As of 9:00 a.m. on April 2, there are 33,718 coronavirus cases in the UK. The lockdown in the UK is set to continue for a third week before review. In a video message posted on Twitter, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is also coronavirus-positive lamented the loss of so many lives. "Let's be in no doubt this has been a sad, sad day," he said.  Legendary Scottish comedian Eddie Large has died in hospital at the age of 78 after contracting coronavirus. In a statement, Eddie's son said the family wasn't allowed to visit him while he was hospitalized due to strict social distancing rules.

On Thursday, April 2nd, Iran reported 124 more deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, taking its total tally to 3,160. Iran's Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour also announced that 3,111 new cases were registered in the country over the past 24 hours. Iran reported its first coronavirus cases on February 19 and has so far recorded 50,468 cases. Of those, 16,711 have recovered. An official lockdown hasn't been declared in Iran, but its government has urged citizens to stay indoors in order to contain the spread of the virus. Intercity travel was banned in the country until at least April 8. Four key Shiite pilgrimage sites, including the Fatima Masumeh shrine in Qom have been closed. Schools and universities remain closed until early April.

The latest figures from Spain's Health Ministry, published on April 2 show that Spain's coronavirus deaths have risen above 10,000. 950 deaths were registered in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally of deaths from the virus to 10,003. This is the highest daily coronavirus death toll recorded in the country, and in any country in the world. Spain is Europe's worst affected country after Italy. There are now 110,238 confirmed coronavirus infections in Spain. The good news is Spain's coronavirus infection rate has dropped from a daily average of 20% until March 25 to less than 12% after that date. The Spanish government has however acknowledged that the drop in infection rate may not paint a complete picture as the real number of infections could be higher but be undetected due to limited testing. The number of recoveries are also increasing. In sum, 26,743 people have recovered so far, up from yesterday's 22,647.

On Wednesday, April 1, the number of coronavirus cases in the US surpassed 210,000. The coronavirus death toll in the US has now grown past 4,700 cases. One of the casualties recorded on Wednesday was a 6-week-old baby in Connecticut. T he director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said an estimated 25% of coronavirus carriers in the US have no symptoms. He told NPR: "Information that we have pretty much confirmed now is that a significant number of individuals that are infected actually remain asymptomatic. That may be as many as 25%." According to CNN, an estimated 90% of the US population now lives in areas that have stay-at-home orders. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, at his daily briefing said his state accounted for more than 83,000 of the total coronavirus cases and 1,941 of the deaths. New Jersey is the second-hardest hit state, with more than 18,000 cases and 267 deaths.

On Wednesday, April 1, Italy's Civil Protection Agency announced that Italy's death toll from the virus has climbed by only 727 deaths - the lowest it has recorded in over a week. The overall death toll in the country stands at 13,155. Only yesterday, the number of deaths recorded was as high as 837. 4,782 new cases were registered taking the total of confirmed cases in the country to 110,574.  Silvio Brusaferro, the president of Italy’s Higher Health Institute (ISS) said: "The curve tells us that we’re at a plateau. That doesn’t mean we’ve hit the peak and that it’s over, but that we must start the descent … by applying the measures in force.

On Wednesday, April 1, Spain's Health Ministry revealed that 864 people had died in the last 24 hours. So far, 9,053 people have died from the virus in Spain. There were 7,719 more cases registered, taking the total number of cases in the country to 102,136. There has been about 22,600 recoveries so far. Close to 6,000 of those patients have required intensive care treatment. The day on day percentage increase in deaths related to total cases is now at 10.5% and has been falling since March 25, when the rise was 27%.  Speaking at the daily government press conference on the coronavirus crisis, María José Sierra from the Health Ministry’s Coordination Center for Health Alerts, said that Spain “was still in the stabilization phase of the pandemic. While this data is positive, our main objective is the patients in the intensive care units." She added that the figures of patients in ICUs "reflects what happened two to three weeks ago, and we are seeing the numbers we

As of Wednesday, April 1, Johns Hopkins University data shows that only five of Africa's 54 countries have reported no coronavirus cases, these are: Comoros, Lesotho, Sao Tome and Principe, Malawi and South Sudan. Egypt became the first African country to report a coronavirus case in February, and 49 of Africa's 54 countries have since then reported cases.  The virus has claimed more than 200 lives on the continent, including the lives of political figures like Somalia's former Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and the former president of the Republic of Congo, Jacques Joachim Yhombi-Opango. At least 5,820 coronavirus cases and 441 recoveries have been confirmed on the continent.  South Africa has the highest number of coronavirus cases - 1,353, followed by Algeria with 716, Egypt with 710, Morocco with 638, Tunisia with 394, Burkina Faso with 261 and Cameroon with 233.