Covid-19: Situation improves in New York, Europe; keep trade open, says IMF

The World Health Organisation said on Sunday that a further 81,153 people have tested positive for the coronavirus disease over the preceding 24 hours, taking the overall number of cases confirmed since the start of the outbreak above 2.24 million.

In total, 6,463 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 have died over the preceding 24 hours, raising the total death toll to 152,551. The latest update indicates a decline in the daily increase of case numbers and deaths compared to data released by WHO on Saturday. Almost 4,000 fewer cases and 247 fewer deaths were reported worldwide on Sunday.

Europe remains the most severely affected continent by the outbreak, with more than 1.1 million cases of the disease. The Covid-19 death toll in Europe surpassed 100,000 on Sunday, according to WHO, after 3,737 more deaths were reported.

A further 37,589 cases and 2,516 deaths were reported in the Americas region, the bulk of which were in the United States.

Earlier in the day, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed leading health officials during a video conference of G20 health ministers. The director-general called on the world's leading economies to offer urgent support to countries that are struggling to cope with the Covid-19 outbreak.

Ghebreyesus said that lifting lockdown restrictions for Covid-19 is not the end of the epidemic, it's just the beginning of the next phase. Speaking at the Group of 20 (G20) Health Ministers virtual meeting from Geneva, the WHO chief said it's vital in this next phase that countries educate, engage and empower their people to prevent and respond rapidly to any resurgence, Xinhua reported.

"We are encouraged that several G20 countries are now starting to plan how to ease social restrictions. It is critical that these measures are a phased process," he said.

Tedros told the health ministers that the WHO is deeply concerned that the virus now appears to be gathering pace in countries that lack the capacity of many G20 countries to respond to it.

"Urgent support is needed, not only to support countries to respond to Covid-19, but to ensure other essential health services continue," he said.

Tedros also took the opportunity to thank Saudi Arabia for its support to the global fight against the virus. Saudi Arabia announced Thursday a $500 million donation to relevant international organizations to support global efforts in combating the Covid-19.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us of a simple truth: we are one humanity. We share the same planet. We share the same hopes and dreams. We share the same destiny," the WHO chief said.

Weaknesses in healthcare systems exposed: G20 Health Ministers

The G20 health ministers acknowledged that the Covid-19 crisis has highlighted systemic weaknesses in healthcare systems and vulnerabilities in the global community's ability to prevent and respond to pandemic threats.

"G20 Ministers emphasized that people's health and well-being are at the heart of all decisions taken to protect lives, tackle illness, strengthen global health security, and alleviate the socio-economic impacts resulting from Covid-19," read an official statement following the Health ministers meeting.

"Health Ministers recognized that the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted systemic weaknesses in health systems. It also has shown vulnerabilities in the global community's ability to prevent and respond to pandemic threats. Ministers addressed the need to improve the effectiveness of global health systems by sharing knowledge and closing the gap in response capabilities and readiness," it added.

During the meeting, Harsh Vardhan highlights the effectiveness of imposing lockdown in India, saying "our case doubling rate which was about 3.4 days on the 17th of March, dropped to 4.4 days by the 25th of March, and is currently about 7.2 days."

G20 is an international forum for the governments of 19 countries and the European Union (EU). The 19-member countries of G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America and India.

IMF, World Bank urge countries to keep trade open

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) have called on countries to keep trade open as the world battles the Covid-19 pandemic, warning that export controls on medical supplies and other essentials could backfire.

At a virtual press conference during the just-concluded spring meetings of the two multilateral institutions, IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said that this is not a time to restrict the trade of medical supplies and essential equipment around the world, Xinhua reported.

"It is very important that this does not become a future where we reverse all the gains that we've got from globalization," said Gopinath, in response to a question from Xinhua.

Echoing her remarks, Kenneth Kang, deputy director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the IMF, told Xinhua in a recent written interview that countries should avoid trade restrictions on medical and health products to ensure that they go to where they are most needed.

"Countries with limited health care capacity and resources will need international aid to prepare for and weather the pandemic," Kang said. "The health emergency is a powerful reminder of the need for policy coordination and solidarity in an interconnected world," he said.

The IMF official said that countries should cooperate to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers that impede cross-border trade and investment and to strengthen global supply chains as the recovery takes hold.

World Bank President David Malpass, meanwhile, said at a virtual press conference on Friday that big countries need to step forward and pledge not to use the crisis as a reason to close or block the markets.

"We should allow markets to function, markets to clear and the supplies to go to those most in need," said Malpass, adding that China is exporting medical supplies to the rest of the world, which is "very welcome."

The IMF and World Bank's advocacy for free trade came as protectionist sentiments are growing across the globe amid the pandemic. Some 46 export curbs on medical supplies have been introduced by 54 governments since the beginning of the year, according to a report published on March 23, by Global Trade Alert, a trade policy monitoring initiative.

New York state epidemic 'on the descent': Governor

The coronavirus outbreak in New York state -- epicenter of the epidemic in the United States -- is "on the descent," Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Sunday.

"We are past the high point, and all indications at this point is that we are on the descent," Cuomo told a press conference.

"Whether or not the descent continues depends on what we do, but right now we're on the descent." New York has borne the brunt of the virus in the United States, which has killed more than 13,000 people in the state, with more than 226,000 known infections.

A field hospital has been erected in New York City's Central Park, and the state's shutdown -- which orders residents to stay at home except to exercise or perform essential business -- has been extended until May 15.

It is "good news only compared to the terrible news that we were living with, which is that constant increase" in hospitalizations and deaths, Cuomo said of the latest data. "It's no time to get cocky and it's no time to get arrogant. We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do. This virus has been ahead of us every step of the way.

"We still have to make sure that we keep that beast under control. Whether or not the descent continues depends on what we do. This is only halftime in this entire situation," he said in his daily press briefing, the BBC reported.

Noting the outbreak was "slowing, not growing", the Governor said: "We have a very small margin of error here."

New York recorded 507 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, continuing its downward trend.

At this, Cuomo said: "The recent news is good, that we are on the other side of the plateau and the numbers are coming down. But that's good news only compared to the terrible news that we were living with, which is that constant increase. We still have more to do."

Europe sees recovery

European nations hit hard by the coronavirus and the US epicenter New York reported headway Sunday in their battle against the deadly pandemic. Governments across the world are now debating how and when to ease lockdowns that have kept more than half of humanity -- 4.5 billion people -- confined to their homes and crippled the global economy.

Europe saw encouraging signs Sunday, with Italy, Spain, France and Britain seeing drops in daily death tolls and slowing infection rates. The continent accounts for almost two-thirds of the 160,000 fatalities reported across the globe out of more than 2.3 million declared infections, according to an AFP tally.

France

France's prime minister said the country was starting to beat back the coronavirus as the outbreak's death toll approached 20,000 Sunday while new hospitalisations continued a slow decline. The country reported 395 deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the government said, bringing the epidemic tally to 19,718.

But in a positive sign, the number of people in hospital declined for the fifth day in a row to 30,610 -- a small decline of 29, top health official Jerome Salomon told a televised press conference. There were 5,744 people in intensive care, added Salomon, 89 fewer in the 11th consecutive day of decline.

"We are scoring points against the epidemic," Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told the same briefing, adding the "situation is improving gradually, slowly, but surely" and the epidemic is "slowing". But he stressed that a nationwide lockdown which entered into force on March 17 to halt the spread of the virus must be strictly respected until May 11, when it will start being lifted in phases.

"We are not out of the health crisis yet," said Philippe, warning that lifting anti-infection barrier measures too soon risked unleashing a second wave of the epidemic.

Spain

Spain registered 410 new fatalities on Sunday, the lowest daily count in almost a month and a figure that health ministry emergencies coordinator Fernando Simon said "gives us hope". The authorities are even starting to shut some makeshift facilities set up to relieve the overburdened health system, including a morgue at a Madrid ice rink.

Spain has extended a nationwide shutdown but said it would soon ease restrictions to allow children time outside. A patchwork of countries on the continent including Switzerland, Denmark and Finland have already begun reopening shops and schools.

Germany

Germany is set to follow suit Monday with some shops back open after declaring the virus "under control", while Italy -- at one time the European epicenter of the crisis -- was tentatively mulling easing restrictions.

Italy 

Italy's overall fight to contain the spread of the coronavirus continued to show results, with the number of deaths, intensive-care cases, and new infections all trending downward, based on information from the Ministry of Health and the country's Civil Protection Department on Sunday.

Italy's daily death toll continued to fall as a further 433 people had died of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the country's death toll to 23,660, official data showed. Sunday's number of new deaths was the smallest in a week. It also represented the fourth time in five days that the number of victims of the global pandemic fell in Italy, Xinhua reported.

The total number of confirmed cases -- combining active infections, fatalities and recoveries -- rose to 178,972, a daily increase of 3,047 against Saturday, according to fresh figures from the Civil Protection Department. The number of new infections was slightly lower than the number of 3,491 recorded a day earlier.

Also, there were 2,128 additional recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the total recoveries to 47,055, since the pandemic first broke out in the northern Lombardy region on February 21.

Erdogan, Trump agree on 'close cooperation' in virus crisis

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump have spoken on the phone, discussing the coronavirus pandemic, bilateral relations and regional developments. According to an account of the phone call shared by the Turkish presidency's office on Sunday, the two leaders agreed to continue their close cooperation against the threats posed by the coronavirus on public health and the economy. This would be a necessity of the spirit of solidarity required by being NATO allies, the message said.

The two leaders also spoke on the phone at the end of March.

The U.S. has the highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world and Turkey now ranks seventh, according to Johns Hopkins University's data on the coronavirus pandemic. They have both surpassed China, where Covid-19 emerged, the figures show.

Turkey's health minister said that a total of 2,017 people have died of the coronavirus in the country, with 127 new deaths in the last 24 hours. Fahrettin Koca, in figures tweeted Sunday, said 3,977 new infections were confirmed in the past day, bringing the total number to 86,306.