The worldwide death toll from the new coronavirus has surpassed 101,000 amid about 1.6 million cases and more than 371,000 recoveries, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.
Italy has registered the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, more than 18,800 as of Friday, while the United States has reported the majority of confirmed infections, nearly half a million.
However, the number of newly hospitalised patients in the hardest-hit state of New York has dropped to a one percent increase.
Here are the latest updates:
Google and Apple join forces against coronavirus.
Tech giants Apple and Google announced they would join forces to develop an app for tracking coronavirus infections using existing Bluetooth and encryption technology.
The app will rely on Bluetooth to determine distances between phone users and encryption to ensure data security, the companies said.
“Privacy, transparency, and consent are of utmost importance in this effort,” the companies said in a statement published on Google’s blog site.
Italy to extend lockdown until May 3.
Giuseppe Conte, prime minister of hard-hit Italy, said he had taken the “difficult” decision to extend a weeks-long lockdown until May 3.
“We are extending the restrictions until May 3,” he said in an address to the nation. “It is a difficult but necessary decision for which I assume full political responsibility,
Italy’s world-topping coronavirus death toll stood at 18,849 as of Thursday.
Spain to hand out masks as people return to work.
The Spanish government has announced plans to hand out out masks at metro and train stations on Monday as some companies re-open after a two-week “hibernation” period.
Spain on March 30 had toughened its nationwide lockdown, suspending all non-essential activities until after Easter. The measure particularly targeted the construction and manufacturing sectors.
Health Minister Salvador Illa said the masks will be distributed in metro or interurban train stations “where usage is recommended” and where work will resume after the Easter weekend “on Monday or Tuesday”.
But there would be no further easing of the lockdown, with Illa saying such measures would be enough to avoid “a resurgence of cases”.
France reports 987 deaths.
France confirmed 987 more COVID-19 deaths registered in hospitals and nursing homes in a day, bringing the total toll to 13,197.
Speaking to reporters, top health official Jerome Salomon said a child aged under 10 infected with COVID-19 died, but the causes of the death were “multiple”.
In encouraging news, Salomon said there were now 62 fewer people in intensive care, continuing a trend first seen on Thursday.
Moscow to introduce passes for travel around the city.
Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the city would begin to gradually introduce a system of passes next week to monitor and regulate residents’ movements during a partial lockdown aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
Speaking on a state television channel, Sobyanin said that the passes would be introduced in stages. The first would focus on creating permits for those travelling to work.
Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rises to 1,006.
Turkey’s confirmed cases of coronavirus increased by 4,747 and 98 people died in the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll from the disease to 1,006, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.
The total number of recovered cases stood at 2,423, with 281 recoveries in the last 24 hours, and the number of tests carried out in that time was 30,864, Koca said on Twitter.
Turkey’s total confirmed cases stood at 47,029, he added.
New York sees first slight drop in intensive care unit patients.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units across the state dropped in the last day, offering a glimmer of hope that the surge in critical care hospitalizations might be leveling off.
Cuomo said there were 17 fewer patients in the state’s intensive care units on Thursday than a day prior, a decrease in that figure “for the first time since we started this … journey”, Cuomo said at a news briefing.
Source:News Agencies.