World coronavirus cases over 58.71 lakh, death toll crosses 3.62 lakh

Image courtesy: Reuters

New Delhi: Global deaths from coronavirus have now passed 360,000 with 5,871,347 confirmed cases on Friday (May 29), according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The US has now recorded 1,731,035 confirmed cases with 102,286 deaths from COVID-19, the latest JHU data said. 

The US has recorded more deaths from the disease than any other country in the pandemic, and almost three times as many as the second-ranking country, the UK. 

Russia also suffers its greatest daily increase in deaths, with 232 more in 24 hours, pushing the nationwide total to 4,374, said The Guardian report. Russia has the third-highest reported a total of cases in the world after the United States and Brazil.

The report further said that Greece is ready to reopen its airports in Athens and Thessaloniki to arrivals from 29 countries from 15 June, as the tourist season starts. Visitors from 16 EU countries – including Germany, Austria, and Denmark – will be allowed in, the tourism ministry reportedly said. 

The countries not on the list include those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic including France, Spain, and Italy, as well as the UK.

In the Middle East, Iran saw the highest tally of new infections since early April, as it identified more new cases in a day than at any time since early April, with 2,819 more people testing positive on Friday.

Kianoush Jahanpour, the Iranian health ministry spokesman, was quoted as saying that 50 more people have died in the same period, pushing the total death toll from the outbreak to 7,677. Out of 146,668 cases detected so far, 114,931 people have recovered.

WHO, 37 countries launch alliance to battle COVID-19

In another global development against the deadly virus, 37 countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) today appealed for common ownership of vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools to tackle the global coronavirus pandemic, taking aim at patent laws they fear could become a barrier to sharing crucial supplies, said a Reuters report.

Pushed by mostly developing nations, the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, as they reportedly fear that rich countries pumping resources into finding vaccines - more than 100 are in development - will muscle their way to the front of the queue, once a candidate succeeds.

The effort, originally proposed in March, aims to provide a one-stop-shop for scientific knowledge, data and intellectual property amid a pandemic that has infected more than 5.8 million people and killed more than 360,000. The WHO issued a "Solidarity Call to Action", asking other stakeholders to join the voluntary push.

UN Climate summit in November 2021 

Amid COVID-19 crisis, the new dates for the 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), postponed from November this year due to the coronavirus lockdown, have been confirmed for November 2021, according to Reuters.

The Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed that COP26 will now take place in Glasgow between November 1 and 12 next year. The decision on the new date comes as the UK government announced that over 25 experts in multiple global sectors will be advising the UK's COP26 Presidency.

The Friends of COP will bring expertise from countries across six continents, including India, France, Barbados, Chad, Australia and Peru. The UK said the new date will also allow Britain and its Italian partners to harness the incoming G7 and G20 presidencies in driving climate ambition.