BEIJING, April 12 (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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GENEVA -- The COVID-19 pandemic has hit over 22,000 healthcare workers across 52 countries and regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday.
According to its daily situation report, 22,073 COVID-19 cases among healthcare workers have been reported to the WHO as of Wednesday, April 8.
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BEIJING -- Chinese health authority said Sunday that it received reports of 99 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Saturday, of which 97 were imported.
Two new domestically transmitted cases were reported, both in Heilongjiang Province, the National Health Commission said in a daily report.
No death was reported Saturday. And 49 new suspected cases, all imported ones, were reported on the mainland.
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NEW YORK -- The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States topped 20,000 Saturday afternoon, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
A total of 20,071 people have died of the disease among 519,453 confirmed cases in the country as of 4 p.m. local time (2000 GMT), the CSSE said.
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BERLIN -- The coronavirus pandemic has placed Germany at a crossroads that will determine whether it recedes into fearfulness or becomes a more "considerate and hopeful" society, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
"We do not want to be a fearful and distrustful society," Steinmeier said in a rare televised speech, which will be broadcast on major German television networks later Saturday evening but the full text has been made available for the press.
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DAKAR -- Senegalese President Macky Sall launched Saturday a food delivery operation in the regions at the Dakar Autonomous Port as part of assistance to households affected by COVID-19.
Sall initiated the emergency food aid program with a budget of 69 billion Francs CFA (about 114 million U.S. dollars), which is drawn from the response and solidarity fund against the effects of COVID-19 for the purchase of 146,000 tonnes of food to distribute to targeted households across the country.
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GAZA -- Gaza authorities on Saturday declared that 1,000 new quarantine units for patients and suspected cases of the novel coronavirus in the coastal enclave are ready to be put into use.
According to a press statement by the Islamic Hamas movement, the local authorities completed the construction of quarantine units able to accommodate 1,000 people, half of which were built in the southern town of Rafah and the other half in the northern part of Gaza.
