Another horror day of the coronavirus pandemic saw the global death toll pass 94,000, although there were tentative signs of hope that the crisis was peaking in the United States and Europe.
The picture of the unfolding economic catastrophe also became clearer with the IMF warning of a Great Depression and data showing 17 million Americans lost their jobs, but a European Union financial rescue package agreement offered some relief to the barrage of bad news.
Another 1,700 people died in the United States on Thursday, while there were hundreds more deaths across Europe, driving the confirmed global toll above 94,000.
Nearly half of all pandemic fatalities have occurred over the past week.
But authorities in Europe and the United States said a slight decline in daily deaths and infections gave reason to hope the worst could be over.
“The fire started by the pandemic is starting to come under control,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain, where fatalities inched down to 683 from 757 a day before, pushing that country’s total above 15,000.
“Our priority now is not to turn back, especially not to return to our starting point, not to lower our guard.”
France also reported that 82 fewer people were in intensive care for Covid-19 — the first fall since the pandemic broke out.
And Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top pandemic expert, said the United States was “going in the right direction”.
The US recorded 1,783 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, lower than the previous day’s record toll of 1,973.
The US has seen more than 16,500 confirmed deaths, the second highest tally in the world after Italy, and more than 460,000 confirmed cases.
In New York, the epicentre of the virus in the United States, only 200 more people entered hospitals, the lowest number since the pandemic struck, even though 799 people died over the last day, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
“We are flattening the curve by what we are doing,” Cuomo said, adding, “We have to keep the curve flat.”
But he declined to predict how New York would fare in the coming weeks, telling reporters bluntly: “I have no idea.”
Further lifting spirits, the health improved of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the highest profile of the 1.5 million people infected by the virus, and he ended three days of intensive care.
However Britain announced another 881 deaths on Thursday, taking the total to nearly 8,000. (Agencies)
