A healthcare worker wheels a patient into the emergency room of a hospital amid the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, the United States, on April 16, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)
- U.S. confirmed cases top 750,000, with over 40,000 deaths
- Italy's daily death toll continues to fall
- Number of confirmed cases on the African continent hit 21,317, with 1,080 deaths
- China sees a growing number of clustered infections caused by imported cases
BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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NEW YORK -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 750,000 Sunday evening, reaching 759,086 as of 8:00 p.m. (0000 GMT on Monday), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
A total of 40,661 people have died of the disease in the country, according to the CSSE.
Military and police personnel are on duty in Johannesburg, South Africa, April 16, 2020. (Photo by Yeshiel/Xinhua)
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CAPE TOWN -- South Africa on Sunday reported 124 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths, bringing the total infections to 3,158 including 54 deaths.
So far, South Africa has the most confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent, registering an average daily infection rate of 90 to 95 cases since March 5 when the first case was reported.
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TRIPOLI -- Libyan National Center for Disease Control on Sunday reported two new COVID-19 cases, raising the total to 51, with 11 recoveries and one death.
The UN-backed government of Libya on Wednesday declared a 24-hour curfew in the country to fight COVID-19 starting on Friday and lasting for 10 days.
Libyan authorities have taken a series of measures against COVID-19, including closing airports, border crossings, mosques and educational institutions, and banning mass gatherings and movements among cities.
People wearing face masks walk on a street in Milan, Italy, on April 18, 2020. (Xinhua)
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ROME -- Italy's daily death toll continued to fall as a further 433 people had died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the country's death toll to 23,660, official data showed on Sunday.
Sunday's number of new deaths was the smallest in a week. It also represented the fourth time in five days that the number of victims of the global pandemic fell in Italy.
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NEW YORK -- The U.S. state of New York will begin a large-scale antibody testing in the following week as an initial step to decide when and how the state could reopen its economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday.
The antibody testing can help determine who have been infected with COVID-19 and then recovered, which "will be the first true snapshot of what we're really dealing with," said Cuomo at his daily briefing.
People gather outside a hospital to express their gratitude and respect to health workers in New York, the United States, on April 16, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/ Xinhua)
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ADDIS ABABA -- The death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the African continent reached 1,080 as the number of confirmed cases hit 21,317 as of Sunday, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
The Africa CDC, a specialized agency of the 55-member African Union (AU) Commission, in its latest situation update issued on Sunday also revealed that the number of confirmed positive cases across the continent rose from 20,270 on Saturday to 21,317 as of Sunday afternoon.
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SINGAPORE -- Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) announced Sunday that an additional 596 cases of COVID-19 infection were reported as of Sunday noon, bringing the total number of cases to 6,588.
All the new cases were locally transmitted ones. Of the total, 30 cases were linked to community, while 22 cases were linked with Work Permit holders residing outside dormitories and 544 Work Permit holders residing in dormitories.
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BEIJING -- A Chinese health official warned Sunday that some regions in China are seeing a growing number of clustered infections caused by imported cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The Chinese mainland reported nine new imported COVID-19 cases Saturday, said Mi Feng, an official with the National Health Commission, at a press conference in Beijing. ■
