Medical personnel prepare for drive-in testing at Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health in Zagreb, Croatia, on March 31, 2020. (Emica Elvedji/Pixsell via Xinhua)
BEIJING, April 1 (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 latest updates on the COVID-19 global confirmed cases in hardest-hit countries by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University at 0000 GMT, April 1.
Country Confirmed Cases
World 856,955
U.S. 188,172
Italy 105,792
Spain 95,923
Germany 71,808
France 52,827
Iran 44,605
Britain 25,481
Switzerland 16,605
Turkey 13,531
China 82,279
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the launch of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019, at the UN headquarters in New York, on March 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Xie E)
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UNITED NATIONS -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said that the COVID-19 pandemic is the most challenging crisis since the Second World War as it represents a threat to everybody.
The pandemic "represents a threat to everybody in the world and … it has an economic impact that will bring a recession that probably has no parallel in the recent past," Guterres said at the virtual press launch of the UN report "Shared responsibility, global solidarity: Responding to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19."
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WASHINGTON -- The death toll from COVID-19 has passed 40,000 worldwide, according to the tally from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) on Tuesday.
As of 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1830 GMT), nations and regions have reported a total of 40,708 deaths from COVID-19, along with more than 826,000 confirmed cases, while more than 174,000 people have recovered from the disease, an interactive map maintained by the CSSE showed.
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PARIS -- The coronavirus cases in France have reached 52,128, with a death toll of 3,523, General Director of Health Jerome Salomon announced on Tuesday at a daily briefing.
In the last 24 hours, 7,578 more people were diagnosed with the COVID-19, which claimed 499 more deaths, the biggest fatalities caused by the virus in one day.
Pharmacists and volunteers work on hydro-alcoholic solutions at a street workshop on a small street in the heart of the Latin Quarter, Paris, France, March 28, 2020. In an effort to combat the COVID-19, pharmacist Fabien Bruno obtained permission from Paris to block off Rue Mignon, a small side-street in central Paris, to expand his production of up to 10,000 liters of hand-sanitizer solution per day, catering to medical staff and emergency services. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)
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STOCKHOLM -- The number of COVID-19 fatalities continues to rise in Sweden, where the government introduced on Tuesday a ban on visits to elderly homes and vowed to expand testing.
The Public Health Agency of Sweden has been tasked with devising a national strategy for expanding testing for COVID-19, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced at a Tuesday press conference.
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GENEVA -- The United Nations Office in Geneva confirmed nine cases of coronavirus among its staff as of March 30, said Alessandra Vellucci, director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, on Tuesday.
In a letter to UN-accredited journalists in Geneva, Vellucci said that in order to respect the confidentiality of the patients, further information will not be provided at this time, but in every case "all precautionary measures have been taken."
People queue up with a social distance to enter a post office in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 31, 2020. (Xinhua/Nie Xiaoyang)
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ROME -- The coronavirus pandemic continued to advance in locked down Italy on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections, fatalities and recoveries to 105,792, according to the latest data released by the country's Civil Protection Department.
The death toll on Tuesday was 837, bringing the total to 12,428 fatalities since the pandemic first broke out in northern Italy on Feb. 21.
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NEW DELHI -- The death toll of COVID-19 in India Tuesday evening rose to 35 as the number of confirmed cases in the country reached 1,397, the federal health ministry said.
"Until 8:30 p.m. (local time) today, death toll related to novel coronavirus has reached 35," reads the information released by the ministry.
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HANOI -- Vietnam's Ministry of Health on Tuesday evening confirmed three more COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 207.
The new cases include a worker of a company providing service to the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital. A number of workers at the company who had provided services to the hospital have earlier been confirmed to be infected.
Employees work on converting the Pacaembu Stadium into a temporary hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 23, 2020.(Photo by La Heer Patelasuo/Xinhua)
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BRASILIA -- Brazil's Health Ministry on Tuesday reported that the death toll from COVID-19 has climbed from 159 to 201, as cases of infection rose from 4,579 to 5,717.
The figures show the country's COVID-19 fatality rate is 3.5 percent, said the ministry.
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CAIRO -- Egypt's Health Ministry confirmed on Tuesday 54 new cases of COVID-19, raising the tally of infections in the country to 710.
The death toll from the novel coronavirus rose to 46, after five more fatalities were confirmed, the ministry's spokesman Khaled Megahed announced in a statement.
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BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi Health Ministry on Tuesday confirmed four more deaths from COVID-19 and 65 new cases, bringing the total number of the infections to 694.
The new cases are 12 in the capital Baghdad, 22 in Najaf, 11 in each Sulaimaniyah and Karbala, four in Basra, two in Diyala and one in Erbil, Kirkuk and Dhi Qar each, the ministry said in a statement. ■
