British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday battled COVID-19 in intensive care as death tolls in the US and Europe reached new heights from the pandemic sweeping the world.
Johnson, 55, was moved into intensive care when his condition worsened 10 days after his diagnosis.
A senior Cabinet minister said that he had been given oxygen, but had not been put on a ventilator.
His case has highlighted the global reach of the virus.
The disease’s relentless march across the planet has now claimed more than 75,000 lives out of more than 1.3 million confirmed cases, with warnings that much worse is yet to come.
The number of daily deaths in Spain rose to 743 yesterday, after France on Monday recorded a new surge of 833 fatalities, its highest daily toll since the epidemic began, and Italy saw its death toll shoot up to 636 from 525 the day before, after days of dropping.
The US — which has by far the most confirmed coronavirus cases in the world — recorded 1,150 deaths over 24 hours, Johns Hopkins University said.
In New York state, the US epicenter of the crisis, the rate of growth in the death toll appeared to be slowing.
“New York City is fighting back. We have an invisible enemy. We have a ferocious enemy, but this city is fighting back with everything we’ve got,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The virus is stretching medical facilities to the limit and the WHO warned that there is a global shortage of 6 million nurses.
People around the world have been forced to improvise as supplies run short, with bodies packed in cardboard coffins in Ecuador and a mosque converted into a makeshift mask factory in Iran.
Governments around the world are also scrambling to put together rescue packages.
With the ink barely dry on a US$2 trillion economic rescue package passed by the US Congress, US President Donald Trump said he favored another massive spending program, again roughly US$2 trillion, but this time targeting infrastructure projects.
“We built the greatest economy in the world. I’ll do it a second time,” he said.
EU finance ministers are expected to clinch a deal to use the eurozone’s 410 billion euro (US$447 billion) bailout fund to fight the virus, but the bloc remains divided on pooling debt to issue “coronabonds.”
Stock markets have chosen to see the glass as half-full so far this week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday soaring 1,600 points as traders saw hope the pandemic was reaching its apex.
Markets were also up in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
CHIPS AND DEFENSE: Trump said the US had lost its chip business and Taipei should pay it for defense, and added that ‘we’re no different than an insurance company’ Taiwan-US relations are solid, and both sides are in agreement that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region are everyone’s concern, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday following comments by former US president Donald Trump that Taiwan “should pay” for US defense. Taiwan is thankful to the US for supporting Taiwan’s bid to participate in international organizations, Cho told a news conference in Taipei. “I know the people very well, respect them greatly. They did take about 100 percent of our chip business,” Trump told Bloomberg on June 25 in an interview that was published on Tuesday. “I think
SHOW OF SUPPORT: Taiwan has been one of the largest buyers of US defense equipment, supporting American businesses and jobs, US lawmakers said Taiwan has been paying for its own defense, a US Department of State official said on Wednesday, adding that purchases of military equipment are important to the US economy and for ensuring regional security. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was asked at a news conference about comments by former US president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in November’s US presidential election, who said during an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that Taiwan should pay Washington for its defense needs. “The purchases that they [Taiwan] have made not only are important, we believe, to regional security, but are important to the United States economy,”
END OF SESSION: Other changes that passed involved the removal of restrictions on group tours to China and raising the sentence for people found guilty of child abuse Legislators yesterday passed the third reading of amendments to Article 49 of the Electricity Act (電業法), which stipulate that at least half of the electricity price evaluation committee should be made up of civilian representatives, and a resolution to invite President William Lai (賴清德) to present a state of the nation address at the Legislative Yuan. They also passed a motion proposed by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that the government remove restrictions on group tours to China. On the last day of this year’s first legislative session, the legislators attempted to deal with dozens of bills