People visit the old town in Warsaw, Poland, on May 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhou Nan)
- Global COVID-19 deaths surpass 270,000 -- Johns Hopkins University
- UK coronavirus deaths top 31,000 as another 626 patients die
- COVID-19 ICU cases, hospitalizations continue to drop in Italy
- France's coronavirus death toll tops 26,000
- China's Hubei reports no increase in COVID-19 cases for 35 consecutive day
BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
NEW YORK -- Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 270,000 on Friday, reaching 270,537 as of 11:32 a.m. (1532 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
A total of 3,877,914 cases have been reported from over 180 countries and regions across the world, according to the CSSE.
A police officer interacts with a woman waving a French flag on a residential building in Saint-Mande, near Paris, France, on May 2, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)
PARIS -- With 243 people losing their lives to the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, France on Friday saw its pandemic toll rise to 26,230, while the numbers of people hospitalized and admitted into intensive care continued to decline.
To date, a total of 16,497 people have died in hospitals and 9,733 in nursing homes and other communal living institutions, said the Ministry of Health in a press release.
Medical workers treat a patient at the intensive care unit of the Sancaktepe Sehit Prof.Dr. Ilhan Varank Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, May 4, 2020. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/Xinhua)
ANKARA -- Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Friday reported 1,848 new COVID-19 cases and 48 more deaths in Turkey.
The total number of confirmed cases in the country has climbed to 135,569 while the death toll surged to 3,689, Koca tweeted.
People are seen at the Coloseum in Rome, Italy, on May 8, 2020. (Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua)
ROME -- Italy on Friday posted a decrease in COVID-19 intensive care cases and hospitalizations, according to the latest numbers released by the country's Civil Protection Department.
The nationwide total of active infections fell by 1,663 cases to 87,961, down from a total of 89,624 infections on Thursday.
People walk past a Love NHS (National Health Service) sign outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester, Britain, on May 5, 2020. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua)
LONDON -- Another 626 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 31,241, Environment Secretary George Eustice said Friday.
The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.
A foreign worker (L) gets medical check near the Toh Guan Dormitory in Singapore on April 8, 2020. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua)
SINGAPORE -- Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 768 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 21,707.
Of the newly confirmed cases, 11 were cases in the community, seven were work permit holders residing outside dormitories, and 750 were work permit holders residing in dormitories. There were no imported cases.
People take selfies at Yeouido Hangang Park in Seoul, South Korea, May 6, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
GENEVA -- The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that countries that lift restrictions and open their economies should be ready to quickly identify COVID-19 cases if they resurge.
"I think we're going to be in a situation where we may need to lift some of these measures but be ready to quickly identify those cases," said Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on COVID-19 response at the WHO Health Emergencies Program, at Friday's press conference.
Medical workers cheer up each other before the closure of the Wuchang temporary hospital in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)
GENEVA -- As the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, humanity's victory over smallpox is a reminder of what is possible when nations come together to fight a common health threat, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
Speaking at an online press conference on COVID-19 from Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that the decisive factor in the victory over smallpox was "global solidarity."
Chinese Ambassador to Cuba Chen Xi (2nd R) and Angel Arzuaga (2nd L), deputy head of International Relations for the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, display medical supplies donated by the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in Havana, Cuba, May 6, 2020. (Photo by Joaquin Hernandez/Xinhua)
HAVANA -- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has expressed gratitude for the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's donation of medical supplies amid the Caribbean nation's efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This is another manifestation of solidarity from China. We thank our friendly Asian nation for their support," Diaz-Canel said on Twitter.
Nurse Valerie Malieudje poses for a photo at her hospital in Yaounde, Cameroon, April 23, 2020. (Photo by Jean Pierre Kepseu/Xinhua)
YAOUNDE -- Cameroon is poised to do "robust and large scale" COVID-19 testing, Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie said on Friday.
"We will now test more people rapidly," Manaouda told reporters in the capital Yaounde, "this will significantly accelerate our battle on the field, especially at the airports."
Senior students attend a class in Hubei Wuchang Experimental High School in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, May 6, 2020. Senior students in 121 high and vocational schools returned to campus on Wednesday in Wuhan City. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi)
WUHAN -- No new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported in central China's Hubei Province on Friday, the provincial health commission said Saturday.
This marked that Hubei had reported no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for 35 consecutive days.■
