New York–The United States surpassed the bleak threshold of 20,000 coronavirus deaths on Saturday, while millions across the world celebrate Easter this weekend in their homes, under quarantine. The pandemic has claimed the lives of at least 20,506 people in the United States, the country with the highest deaths in the world and also with the most infected: at least 527,111, according to the latest Johns Hopkins University count.
The United States has become the country with the most deaths/AFP
On Saturday, 1,920 people died of this respiratory disease in the United States, a terrible figure that, however, represents a decline on Friday when deaths totaled 2,108, a world record since the pandemic began in December. Italy, the most hit country in Europe, which has a fifth of the population of the United States, it is also approaching the same threshold, with 19,468 fatalities due to covid-19buting, but it begins to hold hope in Western Europe and in some areas of the United States that the pandemic is reaching its apex, and many have their sights set on the Chinese city of Wuhan, the original epicentre of the virus, where the authorities lifted orders for confinement and life begins to return to normal. Churches are expected to be empty on Easter Sunday, the climax of Easter for the world’s more than 2 billion Christians, as congregations must respect quarantine orders to limit the pandemic, which leaves more than 1.7 million people infected worldwide and killed more than 100,000.” An announcement of hope” “Darkness and death do not have the last word,” Pope Francis said in a homily transmitted online on Easter eve, in St. Peter’s Basilica.This feast celebrating Christ’s resurrection is “an announcement of hope,” he said only in the face of a dozen concelebrants and a dozen faithful. In a call to an Italian television show on Friday, the Argentine pope paid tribute to the doctors and nurses who lost their lives fighting the pandemic.” They died on the front lines, like soldiers who have given their lives for love,” he said according to the Vatican, the pontiff was praised by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for his “gesture of responsibility” to observe Easter alone. In the United States, a handful of priests and pastors ignored the recommendations of doctors and authorities and announced that they will hold mass open to the public on Sunday, even if they are arrested.
Pope Francis transmitted an homily online on the eve of Easter, from St. Peter’s Basilica/AFP
But most will transmit mass online. Some innovators have even planned “drive-in” masses, which can be seen by car.” A very high plateau.” Meanwhile, the most affected European countries and the outbreaks of infection in the United States – New York and New Orleans – are beginning to notice that the rate of hospitalizations is slowing. The Spanish figures offered hope on Saturday: there were 510 new deaths in one day, one fall for the third day in a row. In France, the death toll fell for the third day in a row, to 635. “A very high plateau seems to have been reached (…), but the epidemic remains very active,” said The Director General of Health, Jerome Salomon. – Boris Johnson is recovering – Italy said that the number of daily deaths begins to stabilize, although the government resists pressure to lift quarantine, and extended it until May 3. But Britain recorded its second-day with the most deaths on Saturday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, makes “very good progress” in his recovery from covid-19, after receiving high intensive care, although he is still in the hospital, a spokeswoman said. Although the number of infected people worldwide is about 1.75 million, according to an AFP count based on official figures, the actual number is thought to be much higher, as many countries only test the most severe patients.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Saturday the closure of the city’s public schools until the end of the school year in June.” It is necessary to save lives,” said the city’s mayor who has more than 92,000 cases and has recorded more deaths in the country: nearly 6,000.But New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the final decision is up to him and should be made in coordination with neighboring cities, and ideally with the states of New Jersey and Connecticut.” The mayor’s order is valid until the governor disallows it with a contrary order or another to replace it,” Roderick Hills, a professor of constitutional law at New York University, clarified. WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Friday that this could lead to a “deadly resurgence” of the new coronavirus, also known as SARS-CoV-2.From Brazil’s favelas to Nairobi, Mumbai or conflict zones in the Middle East, it is feared that the worst is yet to come for the poorest.
Spain reported a drop in daily deaths for the third day in a row/AFP
War-torn Yemen announced its first covid-19 case and Brazilian authorities confirmed the first six favela deaths in Rio de Janeiro.U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said this week that the disease peaked in the country and considers measures to reopen the world’s largest economy as quickly as possible.” Staying home also leads to death,” he said.
