When The Guardian checked the factsheet at 8:18 p.m. last night, the toll stood at:
Coronavirus Cases:
1,716,189
Deaths:
100,228
Recovered:
469,064
On May 17, the figure reached 90,000; half of the number died in just one month. As of April 19, John Hopkins University and Worldometers put their individual tallies at 40,000.
America is currently the worst-hit country in the world. Globally, over 5,630,000 cases have been recorded with nearly 350,000 deaths. 2,400,000 patients have recovered.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 24: Park goers enjoy a spring day on the grass at Central Park during the coronavirus pandemic on May 24, 2020 in New York City. Government guidelines encourage wearing a mask in public with strong social distancing in effect as all 50 states in the USA have begun a gradual process to slowly reopen after weeks of stay-at-home measures to slow the spread of COVID-19. Justin Heiman/Getty Images/AFP
Meanwhile, even as the United States cross the grim milestone of 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, President Donald Trump is continuing to pressurise state governors to reopen their economies and allow the “transition to greatness” he has adopted as a new campaign slogan to proceed full speed ahead.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Trump bragged about early gains in the US stock market indices and insisted that, “There will be ups and downs, but next year will be one of the best ever!”
Trump’s upbeat assessment of the situation facing the US comes after a long Memorial Day holiday weekend that saw Americans in several spots casting aside their fears of the coronavirus and marking the traditional beginning of summer as they would any other year – by packing onto beaches, gathering in back yard barbecues and cramming into crowded swimming pools.
Officials in all 50 states have already relaxed earlier restrictions to some extent. Even in California, with some of the most stringent coronavirus containment rules in the country, public health officials announced on Monday that retail with in-store shopping and places of worship may now open.
Global health officials warned on Tuesday that the world is still in the very middle of the outbreak, dampening hopes for a speedy global economic rebound and renewed international travel.
“Right now, we’re not in the second wave. We’re right in the middle of the first wave globally,” said Dr Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization’s executive director. We are still very much in a phase where the disease is actually on the way up,” Ryan said, pointing to South America, South Asia and other parts of the world.
NwokeAgulu
