The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has reached 3.2 million, with 229,000 deaths and 1 million recoveries, based on the data compiled by John Hopkins University.
In the US, there were over 1,046,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday. The country recorded more than 61,000 deaths. The number of recoveries is now over 124,000 people. The US already conducted 6 million tests for COVID-19..
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, 3.8 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. This turns the number of people who filed for jobless aid to 30.3 million in the six weeks since the coronavirus pandemic started.
Job loss worldwide
Job loss due to coronavirus may hit nearly half the global workforce, according to the International Labor Organisation (ILO).
Th figure from ILO accounts for nearly four-fifths or 76% of the total 2 billion people in informal work. This is almost half of the entire workforce, of 3.3 billion people, around the world.
Germany
In Germany, Lothar Wieler of the Robert Koch Institute told reporters that records from Berlin and Hesse, two of Germany’s 16 states, suggest that the number of deaths is higher than average for the time of year.
Wieler added that his agency “is working on the assumption that more people likely died of (COVID-19) than have been officially reported.” He noted the possible link between wide range of complications and COVID-19.
South Korea
South Korea recorded four more cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours. This is the first time that its number went below five in about two months.
According to the Koreas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the additional figures made the country’s total 10,765, with 247 deaths. The center adds that 9,059 of them recovered. These patients were released from quarantine.
Moreover, they reported that the four new cases are all imported ones. There were no newly reported cases of local infections.
Based on local media reports, it is the first time for South Korea to report no daily increase of local infections since February 15.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s caseload has been slowing in recent weeks after it peaked between late February and early March.
South Korea eased some of its social distancing measures. It may relax more restrictions in coming days.
Singapore
In Singapore, there were 528 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Thursday. The national tally is now at 16,169.
Most of the new cases are work permit holders living in foreign worker dormitories, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).
MOH reported one more death in the country due to COVID-19. The number of fatalities is now at 15. Authorities identified 12 new clusters, including one at the Institute of Mental Health.
The latest person who died due to COVID-19 was a 58-year-old Singaporean woman. Singapore's 703rd case, she had a history of traveling to Europe before she tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Two family members also had the disease.
MOH identified a total of 488 cases among work permit holders in dormitories.
"The main increase today continues to be for work permit holders residing in dormitories, where we are picking up many more cases because of extensive testing.
"Most of these cases have a mild illness and are being monitored in the community isolation facilities or general ward of our hospitals. Three are in the intensive care unit (ICU)," MOH said.
