Coronavirus latest: at a glance
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Global death toll passes 365,000
The global death toll has increased to 365,011, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University, which has tracked the spread of the virus during the pandemic. The number of cases currently stands at 5,927,255. The true number of infections is likely to be much higher, however, given the vast number of unrecorded and asymptomatic cases.
Global support for WHO after Trump severs ties
Australian experts have joined their counterparts in the UK and around the world in voicing their support for the World Health Organisation after the US president, Donald Trump, said Washington would sever ties with the global body. Professor Peter Doherty, a Nobel laureate and patron of the Doherty Institute, which is part of global efforts to find a Covid-19 vaccine, said the WHO had the “full support of the scientific community”.
Crowded pool parties may have caused further US outbreak
In the United States, pool parties over Memorial Day weekend may have caused further outbreaks. Associated Press reports health officials said on Friday they wanted to inform mass numbers of unknown people after a person who attended crowded pool parties over the Memorial Day weekend at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks tested positive for Covid-19.
UK expert says easing lockdown could come too early
A UK government adviser has warned that it is too early to lift lockdown restrictions as planned next month because the number of new infections is still too high. John Edmunds, a professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said he wanted the level of new cases to “driven down further” before larger gatherings are allowed as the government has said it wants to do.
US supreme court rejects church challenge
The US supreme court has rejected a challenge by a church groups to block California’s lockdown laws, which limit attendance at religious worship to 25% of building capacity or 100 people. In the California dispute, the nine justices split 5-4 in rejecting a bid by South Bay United Pentecostal church in Chula Vista to block the rules issued by governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Conservative chief justice John Roberts joined the court’s four liberal justices in the majority.
€9bn rescue package negotiated for Lufthansa
Germany and the European Commission have reached agreement on a Berlin-funded rescue plan for coronavirus-hit airline Lufthansa, the AFP reports. Since the pandemic hit Europe, the Lufthansa group – which also includes Brussels and Austrian Airlines and Swiss – has been bleeding 1m euros an hour, with about 90% of its 760-aircraft fleet grounded. The deal would see the German carrier give up eight planes and their associated landing rights.
Brazil’s death toll surpasses that of Spain
The death toll in Brazil exceeds that of Spain as the country becomes the fifth-worst affected. Reuters reports that Brazil’s health ministry has said another 1,124 people have died, taking the total number of fatalities to 27,878. That surpasses the 27,121 deaths that researchers at Johns Hopkins University believe Spain has suffered.
Australian authorities testing town’s sewage water
Baffled by the death of a 30-year-old man who had not left his remote town in Queensland, authorities are sifting through the sewage in Blackwater to try to find the source of a Covid-19 infection that killed Nathan Turner.
