Coronavirus related deaths across the world spiked in the past 24 hours with Italy recording over 13,000 deaths since the pandemic started.
Spain passed another grim coronavirus milestone after the number of deaths exceeded 10,000.
The country, the second-worst hit in terms fatalities, has also lost nearly 900,000 jobs. The US, too, has registered 6.6m new jobless benefit claims – a record.
The unemployment figures are another sign of the dire impact the pandemic is having on businesses in many countries.
Worldwide, confirmed coronavirus infections are nearing one million.
That’s according to Johns Hopkins University, which tracks virus figures globally. Its tracker also recorded more than 47,000 deaths; some 195,000 people have recovered.
Covid-19 – the disease caused by coronavirus – has now claimed 10,003 lives in Spain as 950 new deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said.
The number of confirmed cases rose from 102,136 on Wednesday to 110,238, an 8% rise that is similar to the rate recorded in previous days. Authorities believe the virus is now peaking and say they expect to see a drop in figures in the days ahead.
“We continue with an increase of around 8%. This points, as we have already seen, to a stabilisation in the data that we’re registering,” María José Sierra, from the Spanish health ministry’s emergency co-ordination unit, said at a news conference.
This, she said, is resulting in an “important lowering” in the increase in the number of people being taken to intensive care units, already under pressure across the country.
Italy has the world’s highest death toll – 13,155 – and more than 110,000 confirmed cases. The country was the first in the West to impose stringent measures to curb the virus, and the government has warned of a “severe” recession.
On Thursday, Italy’s main business association said industrial output could fall up to 15% in the second quarter of the year. It already fell by the most since 2009 in the first three months of this year.
Germany’s Economy Minister, Peter Altmaier warned the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) – the sum of the value of goods and services produced in the economy – could see a decline this year bigger than during the 2009 financial crisis. (BBC News)
