Worldwide Covid-19 death toll soars past 170,000 – Johns Hopkins University

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 170,000 lives around the globe, the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University show, as regions of the US – the world’s top Covid-19 hotspot – gear up to lift lockdown measures.

The university’s worldwide death tally reached 170,042 on Monday evening, as both cases and fatalities kept climbing across scores of nations. Though the overall mortality rate will continue to fluctuate as new data becomes available, the current global average is now somewhere just under seven percent, according to statistics gathered by Worldometer. Eight countries have observed fatality rates above 10 percent, while the US – which has the highest total death toll – recently moved up slightly to 5.36 percent, still falling below the world average.

As the health crisis drags on, however, several countries are preparing to reopen their economies, which have suffered under sweeping lockdown measures, including business closures and varying levels of travel restrictions. Germany, Norway, Poland, and the Czech Republic, among others, have all signaled intentions to scale back the measures in the coming days, with Germany already allowing some businesses to reopen on Monday. But some harder-hit European countries, such as Spain and France, will take more time, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stating that the measures were working, but the “results are still not enough and still fragile.” France’s lockdown, meanwhile, will continue for at least another three weeks.

The US – the worst-affected nation in the pandemic in terms of cases and deaths – has also begun considering how to kickstart its economy, with US President Donald Trump allowing state governors to decide exactly how and when to re-open with guidelines issued last week. Georgia and Tennessee have already announced plans to bring their economies back into action, with the governors of both states laying out roadmaps back to normalcy on Monday. While other areas, such as New York, will take longer to reopen, dozens of states are now arranging plans to do so once the viral outbreak dies down. Many governors are working together in regional blocs to coordinate the process.

Some Americans are already chafing against the lockdowns, with protests erupting across cities in Michigan, Minnesota, Texas and Virginia demanding an immediate repeal of the measures, which have put millions out of work. The demonstrations have been met with mixed reactions – some voicing concern that the protesters will only help to spread the virus – however Minnesota Governor Tim Walz appeared to respond to the outcry, scaling back some of the state’s prohibitions on outdoor activities on the heels of a demonstration outside his office last week.

The Covid-19 outbreak has infected nearly 785,000 Americans, killing over 42,000, among more than 2.4 million who have tested positive for the virus worldwide since last December. Beyond the US, Europe has also been ravaged by the pandemic, with Italy, the UK, France and Germany each seeing well over 100,000 cases, and Spain in excess of 200,000. The US has long surpassed Italy’s absolute death toll, but the Mediterranean nation still has one of the world’s highest mortality rates at over 13 percent, though Britain is quickly catching up.

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