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AFP / Agencies
Madrid
CONFIRMED coronavirus cases passed one million, with more than 50,000 deaths around the world on Thursday as Europe reeled from the pandemic and the United States reported record numbers of people out of work. A total 234,462 infections and 5,607 deaths were reported in the United States, where COVID-19 is currently spreading the most rapidly.
The virus claimed thousands more lives in its relentless march across the globe, including nearly 1,000 new deaths in Spain, despite more than half of the planet being subjected to some form of lockdown.
Since emerging in China in December, COVID-19 has infected more than 1,000,940 people — including at least 540,000 in Europe — and claimed more than 51,000 lives, according to a tally by AFP from official sources.
World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there had been a “near exponential growth” in new cases and that the number of infected would hit a million within days.
The crisis has put enormous strain on national health care systems and on the nurses, doctors and other medical staff working in the most difficult of circumstances.
Europe has been at the centre of the crisis for weeks, with at least 34,000 now dead, but there have been signs the epidemic could be approaching its peak.
Spain said on Thursday it had suffered a record 950 deaths in 24 hours, bringing its total number of fatalities to 10,003.
The number of confirmed Spanish cases passed the 110,000 mark, the government said, although the rates of both new infections and deaths continued a downward trend.
“The data show the curve has stabilised” and the epidemic has entered a “slowdown” phase, Health Minister Salvador Illa said.
The country said it plans to use mobile phone data to track people’s movements during a nationwide lockdown in place to try to curb the spread of COVID-19 while pharmacists asked the government for protective gear to prevent getting the disease.
The Spanish government said it would use mobile phone location data to track people’s movements and see how closely a nationwide lockdown is being respected.
“The goal is to analyse the effect which the (confinement) measures have had on people’s movements, and see if people’s movements across the land are increasing or decreasing,” the government said in a statement.
Dubbed “DataCovid”, the study will be carried out by national statistics institute INE with the cooperation of the country’s main telecoms operators, it said.
Madrid
CONFIRMED coronavirus cases passed one million, with more than 50,000 deaths around the world on Thursday as Europe reeled from the pandemic and the United States reported record numbers of people out of work. A total 234,462 infections and 5,607 deaths were reported in the United States, where COVID-19 is currently spreading the most rapidly.
The virus claimed thousands more lives in its relentless march across the globe, including nearly 1,000 new deaths in Spain, despite more than half of the planet being subjected to some form of lockdown.
Since emerging in China in December, COVID-19 has infected more than 1,000,940 people — including at least 540,000 in Europe — and claimed more than 51,000 lives, according to a tally by AFP from official sources.
World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there had been a “near exponential growth” in new cases and that the number of infected would hit a million within days.
The crisis has put enormous strain on national health care systems and on the nurses, doctors and other medical staff working in the most difficult of circumstances.
Europe has been at the centre of the crisis for weeks, with at least 34,000 now dead, but there have been signs the epidemic could be approaching its peak.
Spain said on Thursday it had suffered a record 950 deaths in 24 hours, bringing its total number of fatalities to 10,003.
The number of confirmed Spanish cases passed the 110,000 mark, the government said, although the rates of both new infections and deaths continued a downward trend.
“The data show the curve has stabilised” and the epidemic has entered a “slowdown” phase, Health Minister Salvador Illa said.
The country said it plans to use mobile phone data to track people’s movements during a nationwide lockdown in place to try to curb the spread of COVID-19 while pharmacists asked the government for protective gear to prevent getting the disease.
The Spanish government said it would use mobile phone location data to track people’s movements and see how closely a nationwide lockdown is being respected.
“The goal is to analyse the effect which the (confinement) measures have had on people’s movements, and see if people’s movements across the land are increasing or decreasing,” the government said in a statement.
Dubbed “DataCovid”, the study will be carried out by national statistics institute INE with the cooperation of the country’s main telecoms operators, it said.
