COVID-19: latest global developments
There have been more than 2,083,820 reported infections around the world,
from which more than 137,500 people have died, according to an AFP tally at
1100 GMT Thursday based on official sources.
The United States has the most deaths of any country with 30,985 fatalities out of 639,644 reported infections.
Europe has now topped 90,000 deaths, or more than 65 percent of global deaths, and the World Health Organization warns the continent is still "in the eye of the storm".
Italy is the hardest-hit country in Europe, with 21,645 deaths, Spain follows, with 19,130, then France 17,167 and Britain 12,868.
- Chilean world-famous author dies -
Celebrated writer Luis Sepulveda, author of the best-selling 1992 novel "The Old Man Who Read Love Stories" and exiled from his native Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship, dies in Spain of COVID-19 at the age of 70.
- Must wear masks -
Poles are now obliged to cover their noses and mouths in public places, using either a mask or scarf.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo orders the state's nearly 20 million residents to cover their faces when in stores or using public transport.
- Amazon shutters French sites -
Amazon closes its distribution centres in France following a court order to limit deliveries to essential goods pending a review of safety measures for its staff. The duration of the closure is "unknown", the Amazon France director says.
- Nigeria lockdown turns deadly -
Nigerian security agents kill 18 people in their enforcement of confinement measures, according to the country's human rights body.
- Outbreak on French aircraft carrier -
France's defence ministry says a third of the nearly 2,000 sailors who were aboard the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and support craft when an outbreak occurred at sea have tested positive for the virus.
- More than 4.4 billion confined -
More than 4.4 billion people, or nearly 57 percent of the world's population, have been asked or ordered to follow confinement measures in nearly 110 countries or territories, according to an AFP database Thursday.
The British government is expected to extend a nationwide lockdown, in place since March 23, for another three weeks.
Japan expands a state of emergency to cover the whole country, allowing regional governors to urge people to stay indoors, but with no punitive measures or legal force.
Senegal extends a travel ban on all flights to and from its soil until May 31.
- 'Health bombs' -
A priest from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) warns migrant hotspots on five Greek islands in the Aegean Sea have become "boils on Europe's skin," and "health bombs" that could explode.
The priest, Maurice Joyeux, says several migrant camps in Greece have become fetid and dangerous, especially now with COVID-19.
