More than 7.36 million people have now been confirmed to have the coronavirus and more than 416,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Here are the top 10 global developments this morning:
1. The United States may see 200,000 deaths because of the coronavirus at some point in September, Asihish Jha, the head of Harvard’s Global Health Institute said in an interview with CNN, while total US coronavirus cases surpassed two million.
2. Europe is set to reopen its borders as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warns the eurozone’s GDP is expected to plunge 11.5 percent amid the coronavirus pandemic.
3. Austria will partially open up its borders beginning on June 16, while Greece will allow tourists to fly to Athens or the main northern city of Thessaloniki from June 15.
4. Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, whose modelling helped set the UK’s coronavirus strategy, says that the country’s death toll could have been halved if lockdown had been introduced a week earlier. The UK has more than 291,000 cases and at least 41,000 deaths.
5. Students’ mental health is in focus in post-lockdown China, amid an increase in the number of suicides. In one Shanghai district, there have been 14 suicides by primary and secondary school students so far this year.
6. Dozens of hospital nurses have protested in downtown Milan to demand better pay and the hiring of more colleagues, AP news agency reported.
7. As Puerto Rico considers lifting pandemic quarantine restrictions, health officials say the US territory passed its peak of coronavirus cases and related deaths more than two months ago. However, independent experts said those numbers are in doubt.
Health Department consultant Miguel Valencia said at a news conference that Puerto Rico’s confirmed COVID-19 cases peaked at 84 cases on March 31 and deaths at six on April 6. Overall, Puerto Rico has reported more than 5,300 confirmed cases and at least 143 deaths on the island of 3.2 million people.
8. Japan may restart business trips to and from Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand as early this summer, easing an entry ban to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, Reuters news agency reported on Thursday quoting the Yomiuri newspaper.
9. South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thurday 45 new coronavirus cases, including 40 local infections – a slight decrease from 50 the previous day.
The total caseload in the country now stands at 11,947, with a total of 10,654 considered recovered, according to Yonhap news agency quoting the country’s health agency.
10. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum says the capital will embark on a large-scale COVID-19 testing effort as the centrepiece of its plan to reopen its economy, diverging from the federal government’s strategy, which has shunned widespread testing as a waste of resources.