Latest on the coronavirus: Global cases pass 1.9 mln

ANKARA

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The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide passed 1.9 million on April 14 as the pandemic swept across the globe.

Johns Hopkins University's website showed over 119,686 people have died from the virus.

The total number of people recovered from COVID-19 reached passed 453,289, according to the data.

Americas

• Total confirmed cases rose to more than 584,000, with deaths exceeding 23,500 in the United States, according to a Reuters tally.
• Ten U.S. governors banded together in two regional pacts to coordinate gradual economic re-openings as the coronavirus crisis appeared to be ebbing.
• Wyoming reported its first death from the novel coronavirus on April 13, the final U.S. state to report a fatality from the outbreak.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend up to $15.5 billion in the initial phase of its plan to bolster the nation's food supply chain against the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.
• Brazil likely has 12 times more cases of the new coronavirus than are being officially reported by the government, with too little testing and long waits to confirm the results, according to a study released.
• Panama registered 72 new cases on April 13, bringing the country's total to 3,472 cases with 94 deaths.
• Mexico registered 353 new cases on April 13, bringing its total to 5,014 cases and 332 deaths.

Europe

• The death toll from COVID-19 in British hospitals rose to 11,329 and the government, which is having to operate without its convalescing leader Boris Johnson, signaled that there would be no easing of lockdown measures this week.
• French President Emmanuel Macron announced he was extending a virtual lockdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak until May 11, adding that progress had been made but the battle not yet won.
• Germany's number of confirmed coronavirus infections has risen by 2,082 to 125,098, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on April 14, marking the fourth decline in the number of new cases after four days of increases. The reported death toll has risen by 170 to 2,969.
• Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 566 on April 13, up from 431 the day before, but the number of new cases slowed to 3,153 from a previous 4,092. The number of new cases was the lowest since April 7. The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 rose to 20,465, the Civil Protection Agency said, the second-highest in the world after that of the United States.
• Serbian police have arrested the head of a nursing home in the southern city of Nis after 139 people were infected with the new coronavirus at the institution. The manager, identified only by his initials M.S., is suspected of "committing a grave criminal act against public health," police said in a statement on April 13. The suspect did not undertake all necessary measures and actions to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease, the statement added.

Asia and the Pacific

• China reported 89 new cases on April 13, down from 108 the previous day. Total cases in China now stands at 82,249, with the death toll at 3,341.
• China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines to combat COVID-19, state media Xinhua reported.
• President Vladimir Putin said Russia might need to call in the army to help tackle the virus crisis and warned the contagion was getting worse after the number of confirmed cases rose by a record daily amount.
• A forensic professional has died from coronavirus in Thailand, after reportedly catching it from a dead body. According to a letter published in the “Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine,” by Won Sriwijitalai and Viroj Wiwanitkit, the medical examiner was infected with COVID-19 from a corpse. “Although patients may get the infection from workplace exposure or through spreading in the community, at the period of the occurrence of this case, the patients in Thailand are mostly imported cases and recording of local spreading in the community is limited,” the letter said.
• India and Pakistan are planning to partially reopen their economies to minimize the cost of restrictive measures imposed to halt the spread of the coronavirus, officials in the two countries said.
• Singapore's health ministry confirmed 386 more cases of coronavirus infection on April 13 in the city-state's biggest daily jump, taking its total to 2,918.
• Australian officials are investigating whether an illegal social gathering of health workers is behind a spike in coronavirus cases in the island state of Tasmania.
• India on April 14 extended a nationwide lockdown until May 3 as the number of cases crossed 10,000 despite a three-week shutdown.   

Middle East and Africa

• Iran's death toll from the outbreak has risen to 4,585, with 111 more overnight, a health ministry official said, adding the total number of infected cases had reached 73,303 in the most-affected Middle Eastern country.
• Sudan will impose a lockdown on the capital Khartoum for three weeks after 10 more cases of the new coronavirus were discovered on April 13, its information minister said.
• Nigeria will extend lockdowns in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states for an additional 14 days to combat the new coronavirus, President Muhammadu Buhari said in an address to the nation that acknowledged the sacrifices of the country's poor. 

Economic fallout

• Asian stocks bounced on hopes the coronavirus outbreak may be peaking, although sentiment was cautious ahead of corporate earnings as investors worried about a deep global recession.
• A steep economic downturn and massive coronavirus rescue spending will nearly quadruple the fiscal 2020 U.S. budget deficit to a record $3.8 trillion, a staggering 18.7 percent of U.S. economic output, a Washington-based watchdog group said.
• Argentina's inflation rate is expected to rise to 3 percent in March, a Reuters poll of analysts showed, up from a month earlier even as the government tries to keep consumer prices in check during the coronavirus pandemic and resulting nationwide lockdown.
• India's retail inflation dropped to a four-month low in March, increasing the chances that the central bank will ease interest rates further in its efforts to encourage economic activity that has stalled amid the coronavirus outbreak.
• Brazil's economy will shrink this year by 5.0 percent due to the direct and indirect economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to The World Bank, which would mark the country's biggest crash in at least half a century.
• The International Monetary Fund said it would provide immediate debt relief to 25 member countries under its Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to allow them to focus more financial resources on fighting the pandemic.
• Some large U.S. passenger airlines are close to accepting the terms of a $25 billion offer for government coronavirus payroll aid, with announcements possible as early as April 14, people briefed on the matter said.