India extends world’s biggest coronavirus lockdown till May 3

ndia’s nationwide lockdown, the biggest imposed in the world over the coronavirus pandemic, will be extended until at least May 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday. The current three-week-old lockdown of the nation of 1.3 billion people had been scheduled to end at midnight Tuesday. “From the economic angle, we have paid a big price,” Modi said in a nationwide address. “But the lives of the people of India are far more valuable.”

Thailand reports 34 new coronavirus cases, one more death

Meanwhile, Thailand on Tuesday reported 34 new coronavirus cases and a death of a 52-year-old male bus driver in Bangkok. Of the new cases, 27 patients are linked to previous cases, four with no links to old cases, while two people who tested positive are awaiting investigation into how they were infected, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

A Thai national who tested positive on Tuesday was already under quarantine after traveling to South Sulawesi province,Indonesia for a religious gathering last month. Since the outbreak escalated in January, Thailand has reported a total of 2,613 cases and 41 fatalities, while 1,405 patients have recovered and gone home.

Germany’s coronavirus cases rise by 2,082

Germany’s number of confirmed coronavirus infections has risen by 2,082 to 125,098, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday, marking the fourth decline in the number of new cases after four days of increases. The reported death toll has risen by 170 to 2,969.

Global cases reach two million

Worldwide confirmed cases of the coronavirus have crossed over two million, US-based according to Johns Hopkins University data. The data showed that 118,966 people have died globally due to the pandemic as of 0000 GMT. The United States has the highest number of 682,619 confirmed cases, followed by Spain with 170,099 and Italy with 159,516.

Trump says it’s his call when to ease virus rules

US President Donald Trump claimed the authority to decide how and when to reopen the economy after weeks of tough social distancing guidelines aimed at fighting the new coronavirus. But governors from both parties were quick to push back, noting they have the primary constitutional responsibility for ensuring public safety in their states and would decide when it’s safe to begin a return to normal operations.

Democratic leaders in the Northeast and along the West Coast announced separate state compacts to coordinate their efforts to scale back stay-at-home orders or reopen businesses on their own timetables, even as Trump tried to say it’s his call. “When somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total,” Trump said at Monday’s White House coronavirus briefing. “The governors know that.”

Mexico reports 353 new cases

Mexico registered 353 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, bringing its total to 5,014cases and 332 deaths, the health ministry said. Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell has acknowledged that Mexico likely has far more people infected with the fast-spreading coronavirus, citing government statistical models. Last week, Lopez-Gatell said the country might have 26,500 cases, with many of those not showing symptoms or not diagnosed.

China reports 89 fresh infections

China reported 89 new coronavirus cases on April 13, down from 108 the previous day, the health authority said on Tuesday.  Of the total, 86 were imported, down from 98 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said. China’s state broadcaster had reported earlier that 79 of the day’s imported cases were in the northeast province of Heilongjiang, which shares a border with Russia. The number of total confirmed cases in China now stands at 82,249. Its death toll from the pandemic stands at 3,341, with no new deaths on April 13.

US records 1,509 deaths in past 24 hours 

The United States recorded 1,509 deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic over the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of 0030 GMT Tuesday. The number of fatalities was similar to the previous day’s toll of 1,514. The outbreak has now claimed the lives of at least 23,529 people in the US, the most of any country.

China approves two experimental coronavirus vaccines 

China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines to combat the new coronavirus that killed over 100,000 people worldwide, state media Xinhua reported on Tuesday. The vaccines are being developed by a Beijing-based unit of Nasdaq-listed Sinovac Biotech, and by the WuhanInstitute of Biological Products, an affiliate of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group.

In March, China have the green-light for another clinical trial for a coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by military-backed China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and HK-listed biotech firm CanSino Bio, shortly after US drug developer Moderna said it had begun human tests for their vaccine with the US National Institutes of Health.