Source: People's Daily, Xinhua, CGTN, China Daily, Global Times, CBS, iFeng, Baidu, Global  News Agencies, Majdi

For Those who couldn't view yesterday's COVID-19 Daily Updates, I had to delete it due to major error in COVID-19 China table. The error was corrected and you can view it here: 

[Repost] COVID-19: GOOD NEWS, AI Tool To Predict Severe Cases

LATEST NEWS

CoronaVirus: 

More than 1 Million Cases, 50,000 Deaths

Reported COVID-19 cases around the world surpassed 1 million, doubling in a week as the virus spreads across Europe and North America and establishes a toehold in Africa. 

Just before global cases reached 1 million, the COVID-19 worldwide death toll passed 50,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

 

The most infected countries by percentage to the population. 

 

Saturday (Tomorrow): National Mourning 

China will hold a national mourning Saturday for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and compatriots who died of the disease, according to the State Council.

During the commemoration, national flags will fly at half-mast across the country and in all Chinese embassies and consulates abroad. Public recreational activities will be suspended in the country.

At 10 a.m. Saturday, Chinese people nationwide will observe three minutes of silence to mourn the diseased, while air raid sirens and horns of automobiles, trains and ships will wail in grief.  

It's worth noting that tomorrow marks: 2020/04/04 where the number "4" in Chinese refers to "death", while one of meanings associated with number 2 is "cooperative". 

US & Europe On Way to Wear Masks Outdoor

For weeks, when healthy Americans asked whether they should be wearing face masks in public to help stem the spread of the coronavirus, health authorities in the U.S. have answered with a definitive no. Now, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewing its policy, those recommendations may soon change but in Central Europe, a handful of countries have already made that decision. As of Wednesday afternoon, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control continued to discourage the use of face masks

Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have recently made it compulsory to wear some form of covering over their mouths and noses when entering certain public spaces. In this respect, they have more closely followed the lead of health authorities in Asian countries such as China and South Korea, where masks have been strongly encouraged, or even mandatory, and even widely distributed

The Trump administration is formalizing new guidance to recommend that many Americans wear face coverings when leaving home, in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

Jena, a city in eastern Germany, announced this week that within several days it will be compulsory to wear a mask in supermarkets and on public transit but the German government as a whole has issued no such recommendation. 

Will we soon see a world with all people wearing masks on their faces? 

A Rush of Local News

China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday reminded foreigners in China that they should abide by Chinese law on epidemic prevention and treatment, noting that foreigners who disrupt the epidemic prevention order and endanger public health and safety will be held legally responsible under the law. The ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the response after several foreigners in China recently failed to comply with quarantine measures, with some beating up medical staff, aroused online discussions.

Visiting medical experts from east China's Shandong Province recently held a video conference with British colleagues led by Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Jonathan Van-Tam, to exchange experience in COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, disease diagnosis and treatment.

Shenzhen becomes the first Chinese city to ban the sale and consumption of dog, cat meat by banning the consumption of wild animals. Analysts said that legislation could be promoted to more regions in China. 

A Rush of News

Russia extended the country's non-working days until April 30.

Four French soldiers in West Africa have tested positive for coronavirus, French army said.

Portugal's parliament has approved the extension of a state of emergency by another 15 days.

Saudi Arabia has imposed a 24-hour curfew in Mecca and Medina. 

LATAM Airlines, South America's largest carrier, will only operate 5 percent of its regularly scheduled passenger flights in April

Thailand is to announce a nationwide curfew between 10pm and 4am starting Friday.

Some 898,822 workers lost their jobs since March 12 in Spain, social security data showed on Thursday, more than half of which are temporary workers.

Bernardita Catalla, the Philippine ambassador to Lebanon, has died of COVID-19 at a hospital in Beirut.

Ellis Marsalis Jr, jazz pianist, teacher and patriarch of a New Orleans musical clan that includes famed performer sons Wynton and Branford, has died after battling pneumonia brought on by the coronavirus, one of his sons said late on Wednesday. 

The US Department of Defense is working to fulfill a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 100,000 body bags.

Iran's parliament says Speaker Ali Larijani has tested positive for the new coronavirus and is in quarantine.

British Airways will furlough 28,000 workers due to the coronavirus crisis. 28,000 workers will be suspended and will receive 80% of their pay. Under the plan, the UK government will pay 80% of salaries up to 2,500 ($3,093) a month. British Airways will then cover any earnings above that, to ensure that all employees earn 80% of their monthly salary.

Countries Confirming First Case/death

Zambia has recorded its first death from coronavirus.

Malawi's recorded its first three coronavirus cases.

Hard-Hit Countries

UK coronavirus death toll rises to 2,926, up 24 percent in a day. 

Netherlands: The number of deaths has increased by 166 to 1,339, health authorities have said. The number of confirmed coronavirus infections increased by 8 percent to 14,697, and as of the time of this article it's 14,784.

Iran's death toll from the coronavirus has reached 3,136, with 124 deaths in the past 24 hours, the country had 50,468 cases of infection.

Spain's coronavirus death toll has risen to 10,348 from 9,053. Meanwhile, the number of infections rose to 112,065, up from 102,136 the previous day. 

Russia's coronavirus case tally jumped has jumped to 3,548, a record daily increase of 771, according to Russia's crisis response centre.

Germany's the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 84,788 while. Death toll climbed to 1107.

France: The number of deaths surged to nearly 5,400 as the country started including fatalities in nursing homes in its data. Jerome Salomon, head of the public health authority, said the number of coronavirus-related deaths in hospitals rose 12 percent on Thursday to 4,503 from a day earlier. He added that a provisional tally showed that a cumulative 884 people in total had died in nursing homes (This yet to be added to the official table). This makes for a total of 5,387 lives lost to coronavirus in France.

Brazil: For third day in a row, Brazil reported a consecutive spike of more than 1,000 new novel coronavirus cases in a single day. During a press conference on Thursday, 1,074 new cases were announced, bringing the country's total number of cases to 7,910 and 299 deaths.

Experts tell White House Virus Can Spread Through Talking or even Just Breathing

A prestigious scientific panel told the White House last night that research shows coronavirus can be spread not just by sneezes or coughs, but also just by talking, or possibly even just breathing. 

"While the current [coronavirus] specific research is limited, the results of available studies are consistent with aerosolization of virus from normal breathing," according to the letter, written by Dr. Harvey Fineberg, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus spreads from person to person when people are within about six feet of each other. It spreads "through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes."  

Fineberg told CNN this is true but that research shows that aerosolized droplets produced by talking or possibly even by just breathing can also spread the virus.  

Fineberg said it's possible that aerosolized coronavirus droplets can hang in the air and potentially infect someone who walks by later. How long coronavirus lingers in the air depends on several factors, including how much virus an infected individual puts out when breathing or talking, and also on the amount of circulation in the air, he said. 

India Races to Find 9,000 Exposed Residents

Indian officials are racing to track down some 9,000 people exposed to the country's biggest infection cluster, linked to a Muslim missionary group's gathering in the capital last month.

The number of cases jumped by more than half to 1,965 on Wednesday, fuelled by infections among people who either attended prayers and lectures at the Tablighi Jamaat's headquarters in a densely packed Delhi neighbourhood or came into contact with attendees later.

Meanwhile, the country has begun converting trains and stadiums into isolation wards to deal with an anticipated surge in coronavirus cases.

Indian Railways on Wednesday said work had begun on modifying 20,000 carriages into medical facilities, with each carriage containing 16 beds.

This means that a total of 320,000 patients could be cared for in the "quarantine coaches", a statement from the railways said.

In Panama, Lockdown Means Separating Men and Women

Police officers are pictured during the curfew as the coronavirus outbreak continues, in Panama City, Panama on March 31. Erick Marciscano/Reuters

Panama is taking a new measure to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus: separation of the sexes.

Starting on Wednesday, only women will be able to leave their homes to buy necessities on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Men in Panama will be allowed to venture outside to run errands on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Everyone will have to stay home on Sundays. The restrictions will last for at least 15 days, according to government officials.

Why are they separating men and women? The additional measures to the already-announced national quarantine in theory will make it easier for police in the Central American nation to limit the number of people going out in public.

Philippine President Warns "unruly" Quarantine Violators Could Be Shot

In this photo provided by the Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he addresses the nation during a live broadcast in Malacanang, Manila, Philippines on March 30. King Rodriguez, Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned that people who break quarantine and are "unruly" could be shot by law enforcement officers.

During a televised address on Wednesday, CNN Philippines reported the Philippine leader urged people to cooperate with quarantine measures.

During the address, Duterte said, My orders to the police, the military and the barangays: If they become unruly and they fight you and your lives are endangered, shoot them dead!

Global CoronaVirus Timeline in Video

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