The total number of coronavirus COVID-19 cases across 188 nations reached 4,405,688 and the death toll stood at 300,074 at 11.45 pm (IST) on Thursday (May 14).


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With the highest numbers both in positive cases and death toll, the US continues to remain the worst-hit with a total of 1,400,500 cases. It is followed by Russia with 252,245 cases, the UK with 234,431cases, Spain with 229,540 cases, and Italy with 223,096 cases.


With a massive jump, the US has witnessed the highest death toll across all the nations at 84,985, followed by the UK at 33,692, Italy at 31,368, Spain at 27,321 and France at  27,077.



US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to cut off the whole relationship with China in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus across the world that has killed nearly 300,000 people globally, including over 80,000 in America.


"There are many things we could do. We could cut off the whole relationship," Trump told Fox Business News in an interview. There has been increasing pressure on the president, in the last several weeks, to take action against China as lawmakers and opinion-makers feel that the COVID 19 spread across the world from Wuhan because of Chinese inaction.


Responding to a question, Trump said that he does not want to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping right now. "I have a very good relationship, but I just -- right now I don't want to speak to him," he said, adding that he is very disappointed with China.


Trump is open to negotiations on another possible stimulus bill amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, but not the one put forward by House of Representatives Democrats, a White House spokeswoman said on Thursday.


Kayleigh McEnany told reporters at the White House that the Republican president "was taking his time" to weigh what - if any - more federal action was needed. "He`s open to it," she added, saying he would like to see a payroll tax cut but that it was not a requirement.


Russian health officials insisted that the nation's relatively low coronavirus death toll is explained by a quick ban on travel from China earlier this year, an early introduction of restrictions and tracing of the infected contacts.


The scope of testing has been significantly increased in recent weeks, allowing to quickly spot the infections and prevent patients from developing life-threatening complications, officials maintain. The comparatively low death toll raised questions in the West, with some suggesting it could be, in fact, much higher.


Forty-two per cent of households have enough savings to maintain essential spending without borrowing for only a month, according to a poll by independent Moscow-based think-tank NAFI in March. Three-quarters of people who borrowed money in the second half of April did so to cover everyday needs, another poll, commissioned by the Russian central bank, showed in early May.


Facing an economic contraction of up to 6% this year and with the second-highest number of infections in the world, authorities have ruled out providing people with so-called "helicopter money".
President Vladimir Putin initially ordered companies to keep paying salaries during the lockdown, something not all businesses could afford. He later unveiled support for businesses and families with children in severe hardship.


Britain is in talks with Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG to buy an accurate COVID-19 antibody test, following the lead of the European Union and the United States, which had already given preliminary approval to the tests. Mass antibody testing with millions of kits is being considered by many countries as a way to speed the reopening of economies devastated by the lockdowns and to introduce more tailored social distancing measures.


A Public Health England laboratory concluded on May 7 that the Roche test detected the exact antibodies prompted by the virus, but the findings were only made public late on Wednesday. "It`s clearly an important breakthrough that we have a test which has been found to be highly specific," a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, adding that it had "the potential to be a game-changer."


Johnson`s spokesman said there was the possibility of some kind of certificate based on immunity but that scientists still needed a better understanding of immunity to the virus.


The Roche test received a conformity assessment, known as Conformité Européenne, or CE mark, from the European Union on April 28 and received Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on May 2.


Roche said it was able to produce hundreds of thousands of the tests per week for the United Kingdom. Germany is getting 3 million of them this month, and 5 million a month after June.


Spain`s daily coronavirus death toll rose on Thursday to its highest in a week as authorities warned that a second wave of the outbreak was possible after a nationwide antibody survey showed about 5 per cent of the population had contracted the virus.


The number of fatalities caused by the disease reported each day rose on Thursday to 217 up from 184 on the previous day, the health ministry said. The number rose above 200 for the first time since May 8.


The reasons for the increase are unclear, head of health emergencies Fernando Simon said. More than half of the new fatalities were reported in one region, Catalonia. "We are now working with the region to identify the date of the deaths and evaluate whether these are new fatalities or if there was a delay in the update," Simon said.


The antibody testing of 60,000 people across Spain had pointed to as many as 2.3 million people having had the disease. The preliminary results have shown a 5% prevalence ratio in Spain`s 47 million population, much below the levels needed to attain "herd immunity", which means the second wave of contagion is possible all over the country if the measures to stem the pandemic are not observed, Simon said.