Rome: The global coronavirus death toll topped 100,000 on Friday as Easter celebrations around the world kicked off in near-empty churches with billions of people stuck indoors to halt the pandemic’s deadly worldwide march.
The grim milestone came as the World Health Organization issued a dire warning that prematurely lifting lockdown restrictions — which have kept more than half the world’s population in lockdown — could spark a “deadly resurgence” of the disease.
The extraordinary measures from New York to New Delhi to Naples have seen businesses and schools closed in a desperate bid to halt the virus’s relentless spread and the International Monetary Fund said the world now faces the worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
More than 1.6 million people have been infected around the world and the death toll hit 100,661 on Friday — nearly 70 percent in hard-hit Europe.
The United States, which has quickly emerged as a virus hotspot, clocked more than 1,700 new deaths on Thursday — bringing its toll to second highest after Italy — with more than 500,000 infections, by far the most of any country.
But even as deaths and infections continued their upward climb, officials in the United States and Europe expressed some hope the curve could be starting to flatten.
Weekend Easter celebrations that would normally see churches around the world packed with parishioners were replaced by an eerie emptiness on Friday as lockdown orders kept millions from leaving their homes.
Even such hallowed traditions as the Pope’s Easter message are being revamped — Pope Francis will live-stream from the seclusion of his private library.
“We have to respond to our confinement with all our creativity,” the pontiff said.
More than four billion people are confined to their homes across swathes of the globe as governments imposed never-before-seen measures to halt the virus’s deadly global march.
This week, China started to ease months-old lockdown orders in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December.
Governments in Europe are facing pressure to strike a balancing act between keeping their populations safe without battering economies already bruised by widespread shutdowns.
The World Health Organization on Friday issued a stern warning about lifting lockdown measures. ”
I know that some countries are already planning the transition out of stay-at-home restrictions. WHO wants to see restrictions lifted as much as anyone,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
In some countries, glimmers of hope may be emerging. Spain, the third hardest-hit country, saw its lowest day toll in 17 days, after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the “fire started by the pandemic is starting to come under control”.
France reported close to 1,000 new deaths on Friday — but said the number of patients in intensive care fell for the second day in a row.
Italy’s toll stood at more than 18,000 on Friday, the highest in the world, but daily rises in new infections have slowed dramatically. Still, the government said Friday it would extend lockdown orders until May 3.
Britain’s toll climbed too, with 980 new deaths, and the government resisted calls to lift lockdown measures.
The fallout is shaking every corner of the financial world, and the IMF, which has $1 trillion in lending capacity, said it was responding to calls from 90 countries for emergency financing.
EU finance ministers agreed the 500-billion-euro rescue package after late-night talks on Thursday, aiming to reduce the pain across the 27-nation bloc, especially in Italy and Spain. (AFP)
