With each passing day, coronavirus is taking more and more toll on the basic functioning of the world. As the number of cases increase exponentially, nations of the world have resorted to extreme measures to counter the threat of COVID-19. On one end where the European Union banned all 'non-essential' incoming travel into the region, on the other, the World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom asked the nations of the world to play a more pro-active role in countering the coronavirus pandemic.
The overall number of coronavirus cases in the world stands at 174,118, with China leading with over 80,000 cases followed by Italy, Iran and Spain. Despite its alarmingly high number of cases, China now finds itself in a far better position than where it did a few days back. The cases in China are now on a downwards trend and with just over 9,000 cases, China has now started to relax some of the travel restrictions it had put on its citizens when the virus was at its peak in the country.
Meanwhile, Europe has emerged as the new hotspot of coronavirus. With over 20,000 cases, Italy has emerged as the worst-impacted European country. The Italian government has taken extreme measures by putting major travel restrictions in the country. Italy has had over 1,800 deaths reported due to coronavirus and about 300-400 of these deaths have been added in the last 2 days alone.
The situation is also bad in other European countries. Spain, UK and Germany are all facing rising number of coronavirus cases. European Union, on Monday, banned all unnecessary travel into its territory.
The situation across the Atlantic is not much better. Despite US President Donald Trump playing down the issue of coronavirus, the United States has seen a rising number of COVID-19 cases. Of over 4,000 cases, most of the cases in the states are concentrated in New York and Washington.
Stock Markets Panic
Stock markets crash at Wall Street
Stock markets across the world have seen a substantial impact of the coronavirus. After most of the major indices in the world witnessed a massive downturn last week, Monday came as no respite. There was panic on Wall Street when the Dow and S&P 500 opened 10% lower. The trading was halted for 15 minutes but that did not change things much as most of the bigshots in US were deep in the red territory.
The Federal Reserve announced a new round of emergency actions late Sunday to prop up the economy and get financial markets running smoothly again, but the moves may have raised fears even further. Investors are also waiting for the White House and Congress to offer more aid to an economy that’s increasingly shutting down by the hour.
The selling began immediately on Wall Street, sharp enough to trigger a temporary trading halt for the third time in the last two weeks, and the S&P 500 was down 8% shortly after noon. Losses had been even sharper in Europe before paring, and indexes there were down more than 3%. Oil lost about 6% and has more than halved this year. The world’s brightest spot may have been Japan, where the central bank announced more stimulus for the economy, and stocks still lost 2.5%.
Indian indices like Sensex and Nifty also nosedived on Monday.
WHO asks for 'urgent escalation' in testing, isolation & contact tracing
World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom in a media briefing late Monday morning said that despite there being a considerable effort being made by the world in other areas to counter coronavirus, there has to be an urgent escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing process in the world.
"Social distancing measures can help to reduce COVID19 transmission and enable health systems to cope. Handwashing and coughing into your elbow can reduce the risk for yourself and others. But on their own, they aren't enough to extinguish this COVID19 pandemic. It’s the combination that makes the difference. As I keep saying, all countries must take a comprehensive approach," he said.
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