A plane carrying Chinese medical experts is seen at the airport in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, April 11, 2020. (Photo by Xu Xu/Xinhua)
- Xi, Putin reaffirm mutual support in fight against COVID-19
- COVID-19 cases in U.S. top 650,000: Johns Hopkins University
- Merkel backs WHO, int'l cooperation in fighting
- Italy COVID-19 deaths climb above 22,000, ICU patients drop to 26-day low
- Jack Ma Foundation delivers second consignment of donations to Botswana
BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, spoke over phone on Thursday night, reaffirming mutual support in the fight against COVID-19 and rejecting politicization of the pandemic.
As the coronavirus disease is spreading around the globe, Xi said, all countries are faced with the arduous task of tackling the epidemic.
Yemeni war-affected children wait to receive food provided by a charity center in Sanaa, Yemen, on June 18, 2019. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)
UNITED NATIONS -- UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock warned on Thursday that the world body will have to close 31 of its 41 aid programs in Yemen in a few weeks as a result of lack of funds.
"This means we will have to start eliminating many of the activities that may offer Yemenis' best chance to avoid COVID-19," Lowcock told the Security Council in a virtual briefing.
People wearing face masks wait in line to do shopping at a store during the coronavirus pandemic in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on April 14, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)
NEW YORK -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 650,000 by 4 p.m. local time on Thursday (2000 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
The fresh figure reached 653,825 with 30,998 deaths, according to the CSSE.
New York state topped the charts of cases and deaths, which stood at 223,231 and 14,198, respectively. New Jersey reported 75,317 cases and 3,156 fatalities. Other states with over 20,000 cases included Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Florida, Michigan, and Louisiana.
Workers unload medical supplies from Jack Ma Foundation at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone, Botswana, April 16, 2020. (Xinhua)
GABORONE -- The second consignment of medical supplies from Jack Ma Foundation to Botswana government arrived in Gaborone, the capital city on Thursday evening.
The consignment consists of 18,912 extraction kits, 18,900 swabs and viral transport medium, 10,320 N95 masks, 9,500 medical gloves, 3,800 face shields, 3,700 medical protective clothing, 36 thermometer guns and two ventilation machines.
Photo taken on March 18, 2020 shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivering a video speech on COVID-19, in Berlin, capital of Germany. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)
BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called for more global cooperation to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and voiced support for the World Health Organization (WHO).
Merkel told a video conference of leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) that the crisis can only be tackled with a strong and coordinated international response, according to a statement by the German Federal Government.
The German chancellor expressed her full support for the WHO, as well as numerous other partners, said the statement.
A woman wears a face mask amid covid-19 outbreak in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on April 4, 2020. (Photo by Rahel Patrasso/Xinhua)
BRASILIA -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil rose from 28,320 to 30,425, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
The death toll from the disease increased from 1,736 to 1,924, for a mortality rate of 6.3 percent, the ministry said.
Brazil's epicenter of the outbreak continues to be the southeast state of Sao Paulo (11,568), followed by the states of Rio de Janeiro (3,944), Ceara (2,386), Amazonas (1,719) and Pernambuco (1,683).
A staff member of bacteriological laboratory from Charles Nicolle Hospital makes virus test of the COVID-19 in Tunis, Tunisia, April 10, 2020. (Photo by Adele Zzine/Xinhua)
TUNIS -- China donated a batch of medical aid to Tunisia's Ministry of National Defense on Thursday.
Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Wang Wenbin and Tunisian Defense Minister Imed Hazgui signed a handover certificate for both sides.
The medical aid includes N95 masks, test kits and medical protective glasses.
People wearing protective face masks wait at a subway station in Ankara, Turkey, April 16, 2020. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
ANKARA, -- Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Thursday confirmed 4,801 new COVID-19 cases and 125 more deaths from the virus in Turkey.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 74,193, while the death toll surged to 1,643, Koca tweeted.
A medical worker works at Intensive Care Unit in Sant'Orsola-Malpighi hospital in Bologna, Italy, on April 15, 2020. (Photo by Gianni Schicchi/Xinhua)
ROME -- The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 22,170 lives in locked-down Italy, bringing the total number of cases, including fatalities and recoveries, so far to 168,941, according to the latest data released by the country's Civil Protection Department on Thursday.
Speaking during a televised press conference, Civil Protection Department Chief Angelo Borrelli confirmed that there were 1,189 new active coronavirus infections compared to Wednesday, bringing the nationwide total to 106,607 cases.
People wearing face masks walk at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on April 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Tu Yifan)
RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia announced Thursday a 500-million-U.S. dollar donation to relevant international organizations to support global efforts in combatting the COVID-19, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The donation would support emergency, preparedness response, and development and application of new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, the Saudi Arabia G20 Presidency said in a statement.
The donation would also fulfill unmet needs for international surveillance and coordination and ensure sufficient supplies of protective equipment for health workers.
Photo taken on March 3, 2020 shows U.S. dollar banknotes in Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
WASHINGTON -- A senior U.S. Federal Reserve official on Thursday urged large banks to raise capital to help economy weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Large banks are eager to be part of the solution to the coronavirus crisis. The most patriotic thing they could do today would be to stop paying dividends and raise equity capital, to ensure that they can endure a deep economic downturn," Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, wrote in the Financial Times.
Photo taken on April 14, 2020 shows the empty Westminster Bridge in front of the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
LONDON -- The British government announced on Thursday that the current restrictive measures that aim to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus will remain in place for "at least three weeks".
Asserting that relaxing lockdown measures would lead to a resurgence of the virus, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, told reporters that the government has decided relaxing the measures would make the economic impact worse, not better.
A United States Postal Service (USPS) worker wearing a mask delivers mails during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, the United States, April 13, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)
WASHINGTON -- The number of initial jobless claims in the United States totaled 5.2 million last week as the COVID-19 fallout ripples through the workforce, following staggering figures of over 6 million in the previous two weeks, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.
In the week ending April 11, the number of people filing for U.S. unemployment benefits decreased by 1.37 million to 5.25 million, raising the four-week total to more than 20 million amid mounting economic fallout from COVID-19. ■
