(Reuters) – More than 3.76 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 262,458 have died, according to a Reuters tally as of 0503 GMT on Thursday.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.
* For a U.S.-focused tracker with state-by-state and county map, open https://tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T in an external browser.
EUROPE
* Total cases in Germany increased by 1,284 to 166,091 and fatalities rose by 123 to 7,119.
* Deaths in Italy climbed by 369 on Wednesday, while the daily tally of new infections also rose by 1,444.
* Spain has extended the state of emergency for two more weeks from Sunday.
* The United Kingdom has drawn up a three-stage plan to ease its lockdown, The Times newspaper said.
* Number of new cases in Russia rose by more than 10,000 for the fourth consecutive day.
AMERICAS
* More than 1.23 million people have been infected in the United States and 73,792 have died, according to a Reuters tally as of 0505 GMT on Thursday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said his coronavirus task force would shift its primary focus to reviving business and social life, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed China for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and demanded again it share information about the outbreak.
* Death toll in Canada rose by about 5% to 4,111 on Wednesday.
* Colombia declared a second state of emergency to support sectors of the economy that will remain shut down for an extended period.
* Brazil registered a record 10,503 new cases in the last 24 hours and 615 deaths. Its President Jair Bolsonaro’s spokesman, Otavio do Rego Barros, has tested positive and is currently quarantined in his home.
* Mexico reported 1,609 new cases and 197 additional fatalities. At least 47 residents and three workers have been infected at a retirement home in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.
* El Salvador will from Thursday temporarily suspend public transport and the measure would remain in place for 15 days.
* Total cases in Panama reached 7,731 on Wednesday, a rise of 208 from the previous day, and deaths climbed by eight to 218.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* China reported two new cases for May 6, unchanged from the same number of increases the day before, with the total tally touching 82,885 and deaths at 4,633.
* India’s national tally rose to 52,952, up by 3,561 over the previous day, and the death toll rose by 89 to 1,783. The spurt in cases has come from the densely packed metropolises of Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.
* Thailand reported three new cases, bringing its total to 2,992.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Turkey said it has brought the outbreak under control, and will set out new social guidelines and business practices to prevent any resurgence.
* Shops and industrial enterprises in Bahrain can open from Thursday, while restaurants will stay closed to in-house diners.
* The World Bank will grant $7 million to Zimbabwe to help it fight the pandemic.
* To help fight the economic impact of the pandemic, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board approved $739 million in emergency financing to help Kenya, while Uganda will receive an emergency loan worth $491.5 million from the IMF too. [nL1N2CO23B ]
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* Asian shares pared early losses after Chinese exports proved far stronger than even bulls had imagined, while U.S. bond investors were still daunted by the staggering amount of new debt set to be sold in coming weeks. [MKTS/GLOB]
* Lockdowns are pummelling gas demand in the world’s biggest buyers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), pushing Asia’s spot prices to record lows.
* Italy’s public debt is set to rise to nearly 160% of gross domestic product this year as the economy shrinks due to the crisis, the EU executive estimated.
* The Philippines’ economic growth unexpectedly shrank in the first quarter. GDP contracted 0.2% in January to March from the same period last year, the first decline since the fourth quarter of 1998.
(Compiled by Sarah Morland, Uttaresh.V and Vinay Dwivedi; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Tomasz Janowski, Mark Heinrich and Anil D’Silva)
