The total number of deaths worldwide has now risen past 5,000

More than 5,000 people have died around the world after testing positive for coronavirus.

Since Covid-19 was first detected in December, more than 134,300 people have been infected in 121 countries and territories and the death toll from the pandemic has risen to 5,043, according to the AFP tally.

Iran announced another 85 deaths today, pushing its total number of fatalities to 514 amid 11,364 confirmed cases. The real number of cases might be even higher, as questions have been raised about authorities’ transparency.

In Italy, the number of people who had died from the virus reached 1,000 on Thursday with some 15,000 cases confirmed.


Medical staff arrive to treat a coronavirus patient in Lublin, eastern Poland (Picture: PA)

The pandemic’s new epicenter is Europe. France, Spain and Germany have all exceeded 2,000 cases each. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has now updated its travel guidance to warn against all but essential travel to certain regions in Spain, including Madrid.



On Thursday, Ireland announced the closure of all schools and childcare facilities and other public spaces such as museums, while Scotland banned gatherings of more than 500 people. The UK Government said it would not move to close schools yet as the evidence for its effectiveness is lacking, though this will be kept under review.

In Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region, hospitals are overwhelmed with both the sick and the dead. The country’s restaurants, cafes and retail shops closed in a lockdown on personal movement, though grocery stores, pharmacies and markets were allowed to operate.

France, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania Algeria and Slovakia shut down their schools, as did several states in Germany, including the capital, Berlin.

Europe’s most successful soccer team, Real Madrid, put all its players into quarantine after one tested positive. The Czech government tightened border checks for some countries, and Slovakia closed its international airports and ground transport hubs.

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Lawmakers in Denmark approved a temporary law giving authorities the ability to ban access to public places and stores and force people to undergo tests. Estonia declared ‘an emergency situation’, meaning no gatherings in public spaces.

Despite a swathe of cancellations in sports, including the Premier League being suspended until April, the Summer Olympics in Japan is still on the calendar, with the Tokyo organizing committee ‘absolutely not’ considering cancelling or delaying the Games, Japan Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto said.

China, where the virus emerged late last year, still accounts for more than 60% of global infections with more than 3,000 deaths and over 80,000 people testing positive for the virus.

But today it reported just eight new cases and seven deaths. More than 64,000 people have now recovered and been released from hospitals.

South Korea has reported 114 new cases and was near 8,000 overall. Officials said 177 patients were released from hospitals, making today the first day recoveries outnumbered new infections since the country’s first patient was confirmed on January 20.

Medical staff and patients leave after being discharged at Wuchang Fangcang hospital, a temporary hospital set up to treat people infected with the coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China (Picture: EPA)

Kenya has recorded its first case of coronavirus. A woman who recently travelled from the US via London became the first person to test positive in the East African country, authorities said.

The West and Central African nations of Ghana and Gabon also announced their first confirmed cases of the disease. Ghana Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu said two people who returned from Norway and Turkey tested positive and are in isolation. Gabon’s first confirmed case of the virus was a 27-year-old who returned to the country on March 8 after staying in Bordeaux, France.



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