(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:
Third country to reach 1 million cases
India on Friday became the third country in the world to record more than one million coronavirus cases, behind only the United States and Brazil, as infections spread further out into the countryside and smaller towns.
For India’s population of around 1.3 billion, experts say a million cases is still low and the number will rise significantly in the coming months as testing is expanded.
The last four months of the pandemic sweeping India have exposed severe gaps in the country’s healthcare system, which is one of the most poorly funded and has for years lacked enough doctors or hospital beds.
Fight of our lives
Record daily increases were reached elsewhere, notably in the United States, which shattered its daily record for coronavirus infections on Thursday, reporting more than 77,000 new cases as the number of deaths in a 24-hour period rose by nearly 1,000, according to a Reuters tally.
Australia’s Victoria state also reported a record daily increase in COVID-19 cases on Friday, stoking expectations that tougher restrictions will be imposed on residents. The security lapses which led to people returning from overseas spreading the virus have prompted an inquiry into how the state went from the brink of eradicating the virus to soaring infection numbers.
“We are in the fight of our lives,” Victoria state’s Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos told reporters in Melbourne.
First EU face-to-face talks
European Union leaders sit down together in Brussels on Friday for their first face-to-face talks since the pandemic hit, and will be looking to overcome their differences over a proposed stimulus to kickstart economic growth stifled by the coronavirus.
The stakes are high for the 27 EU heads with economies in free fall, immediate relief measures like short-time work schemes running out this summer and paving the way for what some fear would be an autumn of deep economic malaise and social discontent.
Among other sticking points are when to make the recovery money available and for how long; how to repay debt to be acquired by the bloc’s executive European Commission to collect these extra funds; and how much should be channelled to green projects.
#TokyoExcluded blowback
The Japanese government faced potentially damaging blowback on Friday after barring Tokyo residents from claiming a 50% government subsidy for domestic travel aimed at reviving a domestic tourism industry hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials agreed on Thursday to exclude the capital after recent record numbers of coronavirus infections there and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has borne the brunt of the negative reaction to the backflip, adding to growing criticisms of his handling of the crisis. The hashtag #TokyoExcluded was trending on Twitter on Friday, amassing almost 100,000 tweets.
“What makes you think that business trips or commuting won’t spread the coronavirus? Do you think it’s fair to exclude Tokyoites from a campaign that’s using taxpayers’ money?” said opposition lawmaker Ren Ho on Friday morning in a tweet addressed to Abe.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Kim Coghill)
