The number of deaths from corona virus has crossed 1,50,000 worldwide, of which about a quarter have died in the US only. At the same time, US President Donald Trump has given his support to the demonstrations in the country against the orders of lockdown. There is ample evidence that building a physical distance has reduced the outbreak of the global epidemic, especially when more than half of the world's population, or 4.5 billion people, is imprisoned in their homes.
Governments around the world are now in the throes of when and how to remove the lockdown which has put the global economy in crisis while the number of deaths due to Covid-19 is increasing in the most affected countries. Protesters gathered in three US states this week and demanded the lifting of the ban. The largest demonstration took place here in Michigan, where 3,000 people gathered, some of whom also had weapons.
Trump's decision to waive the shutdown has been left to most state officials while he has also outlined instructions to reopen the country's economy in a phased manner. Around one-third of the 2.2 million people infected worldwide are in the US. It has the highest number of deaths of 37,000 in any country in the world. This is followed by mass casualties in Italy, Spain and France.
However, these figures only show the actual number of actual infected people to some extent as many countries are investigating only serious cases. In fact, there is no corner of the world left untouched by the effect of the corona virus, whereas the overnight death toll in Africa exceeded 1,000. Nigeria on Saturday announced the death of President Mohammedu Buhari's top aide, he is the highest-ranking person in the most populous nation in Africa, vulnerable to the virus.
After adding information on the deaths of 1,290 more people in Wuhan city, China improved the total number of deaths to 4,636. Trump retaliated angrily over claims of slow response to the virus threat and accused Beijing of undermining the virus's impact. Leaders of France and Britain also questioned the Chinese management of the crisis, but China responded that it did not hide any information about the disease.
Switzerland, Denmark and Finland started opening schools and shops this week after signs of some relief from the outbreak in Europe. The Health Minister of Germany said that the rate of infection has decreased to a great extent after the deaths of 3,400 people in the country and restrictions are gradually being given relief there. Parts of Italy are also trying to recover after the lockdown. But Japan, Britain and Mexico have extended the duration of their current measures.
Signs of economic losses are getting deeper with the global pandemic where China has recorded a decline in GDP for the first time in several decades. African country leaders and global economic institutions warned on Friday that the continent needed several billion dollars in additional funds to fight the outbreak.
