More than 370,000 deaths

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 372,047 people since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT yesterday. At least 6,182,860 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories.  The United States is the worst-hit country with 104,383 deaths from 1,790,191 cases.  After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Britain with 38,489 deaths from 274,762 cases, Italy with 33,415 deaths from 233,019 cases, Brazil with 29,314 deaths and 514,849 cases and France with 28,802 deaths and 188,882 cases.

India overtakes France

India's cases of coronavirus crossed 190,000, the health ministry said yesterday, overtaking France to become seventh highest in the world, as the government eases back on most curbs after a two-month-long lockdown that left millions without work. With a record 8,392 new cases over the previous day, India is now behind the United States, Brazil, Russia, Britain, Spain and Italy, according to a Reuters tally.

Virus losing potency!        

A claim by a leading Italian doctor that the new coronavirus is losing its potency and "no longer exists in Italy' sparked a furore yesterday, with the government urging caution. "The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago," Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy's coronavirus contagion told RAI television. That prompted cries of disbelief from other experts and a warning from the government that it was too early to celebrate.

Remdesivir helps moderate patients: study

Gilead Sciences Inc said its antiviral drug remdesivir showed improvement in patients with moderate COVID-19 in a late-stage study. Remdesivir is being closely watched after the US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization last month, citing results from another study run by the National Institutes of Health that showed the drug reduced hospitalization stays by 31%, or about four days, compared to a placebo.

West Bank poor may double

Poverty in the occupied West Bank may double as Palestinians are slammed by the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank warned. The Palestinian territories have seen low infection rates after acting quickly to curtail the spread of COVID-19, with three deaths out of 450 cases registered among some five million residents in Gaza and the West Bank.