London (Web Desk): The global coronavirus cases have recorded more than 2 million and as many as 136,000 deaths — with nearly 2,600 dying in the past 24 hours in the US alone.
US President Donald Trump vowed to unveil plans on Thursday to reopen the world's top economy, following cautious moves in Europe, claiming the US had “passed the peak” of new coronavirus cases, even as the country logged a record number of deaths from the disease.
On Wednesday, China urged the United States to fulfill its obligations to the World Health Organisation (WHO), after Trump halted funding to the body over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen by 2,866 to 130,450, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday, meaning the number of new infections rose for a second consecutive day.
The reported death toll has risen by 315 to 3,569, the tally showed.
Australia will keep in place restrictions implemented to curb the spread of the coronavirus for at least four more weeks, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday, despite signs that Canberra has been successful in slowing infection rates.
Morrison said Australia will over the next month expand testing, improve its capacity to trace contacts of known coronavirus cases, and plan a response to any further local outbreaks.
Morrison said these three steps will be finished within four weeks, and Australia will then review the restrictions that include curtailing the movements of residents, and the closures of schools, restaurants and pubs.
Experts have warned that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have a "profound and pervasive impact" on global mental health as billions struggle to cope with isolated living and anxiety spikes.
China reported on Thursday fewer new coronavirus cases involving travellers arriving from overseas, but locally transmitted infections rose, with the Chinese capital seeing new local cases for the first time in more than three weeks, Reuters reported.
New imported cases dropped to 34 on Wednesday from 36 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said, down for the third straight day, amid stringent border checks and reduced international flights.
