(Reuters) – Reported cases of the coronavirus have crossed 2.5 million globally and 177,004 people have died, according to a Reuters tally as of 0200 GMT on Wednesday.
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.
AMERICAS
* Governors of about half a dozen U.S. states pushed ahead with plans to partially reopen for business despite warnings from health officials.
* U.S. coronavirus deaths topped 45,000 on Tuesday doubling in a little over a week and rising by a near-record amount in a single day, according to a Reuters tally.
* An old malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a “game changer” in the fight against the coronavirus provided no benefit and potentially higher risk of death for patients at U.S. veterans hospitals, according to an analysis that has been submitted for expert review.
* Mexico has entered what the government calls “Phase 3” of the spread of the new coronavirus, the most serious stage.
* Hundreds of Brazilians who were stranded in Southeast Asia during a coronavirus-led emergency lockdown are now headed home after the Brazilian embassy in Bangkok chartered a flight for them.
EUROPE
* The true extent of the death toll in Britain was more than 40% higher than the daily figures from the government indicated by April 10, according to data that includes deaths in the community.
* Crowds of youths targeted riot police with fireworks and torched rubbish bins in a third night of unrest on the outskirts of Paris where a heavy police presence to enforce the coronavirus lockdown has exacerbated tensions.
* Italy is likely to start easing its coronavirus lockdown from May 4 though the long-awaited rollback will be cautious and calculated, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.
* Spain’s cabinet approved measures to support workers and businesses struggling under stringent coronavirus restrictions as officials cheered a slowing infection rate.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* A city of 10 million people in northeast China grappling with the biggest coronavirus outbreak in the country further tightened travel curbs on inbound traffic.
* The Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Organising Committee said a member of the organisation has tested positive for the new coronavirus.
* Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture said it had confirmed 33 cases of coronavirus infection on an Italian cruise ship docked for repairs.
* About 500 people entered self-isolation at the Presidential House in the Indian capital after a worker’s relative tested positive, officials said.
* Thailand approved a second automatic visa extension for foreigners to prevent long queues at immigration centres.
* Indonesia will ban the mass exodus tradition, locally known as ‘mudik’, at the end of the Muslim fasting month in May.
* Taiwan’s defence minister apologised and said he was willing to resign after a coronavirus outbreak on a navy ship which visited the Pacific last month just as the country celebrated a huge drop in cases.
* Demand for plant-based protein foods is surging in Asia, suppliers say, as suspicion over possible links between wild animal meat and the new coronavirus drives some consumers to rethink diets.
* Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has sought support for an international investigation into the coronavirus pandemic in phone calls with U.S. President Donald Trump, and the German and French leaders overnight.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Millions of children in the Middle East will become poorer as their caregivers lose jobs from lockdowns, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund.
* The coronavirus crisis is stirring anti-Semitism around the world, fuelled by centuries-old lies that Jews are spreading infection, researchers in Israel said.
* South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a 500 billion rand rescue package, equivalent to 10% of the GDP of Africa’s most industrialised nation, to try to cushion the economic blow of the coronavirus pandemic.
* The palm oil market is set to miss out on a key high-demand period in 2020 as coronavirus-driven lockdowns during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan dent demand in key importing countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* Asian share markets slipped to two-week lows on Wednesday as the floor fell out from under crude prices, exposing the deep economic damage wrought by the global coronavirus health crisis. [MKTS/GLOB]
* U.S. home sales dropped by the most in nearly 4-1/2 years in March as extraordinary measures to control the spread of the coronavirus brought buyer traffic to a virtual standstill.
* The economies of Latin America and the Caribbean will contract by a record 5.3% in 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak ravages the region, a United Nations agency said.
* The Irish economy will shrink by at least 10% this year and could shrink more than 15% if a second wave of coronavirus forces restrictions on movement to last six months longer than expected, the government said.
* If prolonged, the pandemic could trigger a negative feedback loop in which a worsening economy threatens to destabilise Japan’s financial system, the Bank of Japan warned on Tuesday.
(Compiled by Sarah Morland, Aditya Soni, Devika Syamnath, Ramakrishnan M and Uttaresh.V; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Shounak Dasgupta and Sriraj Kalluvila)
