BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The world is now in a battle against COVID-19, a disease caused by a previously unknown coronavirus that has spread to over 200 countries and regions.
The following are the updates on the contagious disease.
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MADRID -- More than 300,000 Spaniards had lost their jobs during March, said the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Social Security on Thursday, indicating the impact of COVID-19 on the Spanish economy.
Data from the ministry showed that 303,365 people had been laid off last month, the worst March record for job losses in Spain and much higher than the previous record, when 198,838 Spaniards lost their jobs in March 2009 due to the global financial crisis.
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JERUSALEM -- Israeli researchers developed an online platform that enables self-monitoring of an individual's sense of smell for detecting early signs of COVID-19, Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) reported Thursday.
Along with fever, cough and shortness of breath, many coronavirus patients report a temporary loss of their sense of smell.
Based on this symptom, WIS scientists, in collaboration with the Wolfson Medical Center, with backing from Israel's Ministry of Defense, developed the platform named SmellTracker.
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WASHINGTON -- The number of initial jobless claims in the United States surged by 3.34 million to reach 6.65 million last week as COVID-19 devastates the economy, setting a second straight record, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday.
In the week ending March 28, the number of people filing for U.S. unemployment benefits spiked by 3,341,000 to 6,648,000, the bureau said.
The newly released number came after the figure spiked by 3 million to reach a record 3.3 million in the previous week, which was revised up slightly to 3.31 million.
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MOSCOW -- Russia has tallied 3,548 cases of COVID-19 in 76 regions as of Thursday, surging by a record of 771 from the previous day, official data showed. The death toll rose to 30 after six more patients died of the disease, Russia's coronavirus response center said in a statement.
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VIENTIANE -- No new COVID-19 cases were reported in Laos on Thursday, with its total number remaining at 10, according to Lao health official. Director General of Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health, Rattanaxay Phetsavanh, told a press conference on Thursday that the total number of COVID-19 cases in Laos remained at 10, as no new cases were confirmed.
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MADRID -- The number of deaths caused by COVID-19 in Spain surpassed the 10,000 mark on Thursday, the Spanish Ministry for Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Services confirmed. A total of 10,003 people have died from the infectious disease in Spain as of Thursday, 950 more than the death toll of 9,053 on Wednesday.
