Christian devotees offer prayers at St Mary's Basilica in Hyderabad. India has been reponing restaurants, shopping malls and religious places despite rising Covid 19 cases. AP Photo / Mahesh Kumar A
Christian devotees offer prayers at St Mary's Basilica in Hyderabad. India has been reponing restaurants, shopping malls and religious places despite rising Covid 19 cases. AP Photo / Mahesh Kumar A
The city of Mumbai has recorded more than 51,000 cases of the coronavirus, taking it past the peak in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged.
The number of coronavirus cases in India continued to rapidly increase yesterday, with officials reporting nearly 10,000 new cases over the past 24 hours.
India has recorded 276,583 positive cases, the fifth highest in the world, and 7745 deaths. The actual numbers, like elsewhere in the world, are thought to be far higher due to a number of reasons such as limited testing.
Doctors examine people during a free medical camp in Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums in Mumbai, India. Photo / AP
Globally, there have been more than 7.2 million known coronavirus infections, with a global death toll of 409,617.
In Australia there have been 7274 cases, with 3117 in NSW, 1062 in Queensland, 1691 in Victoria, 440 in South Australia, 599 in Western Australia, 228 in Tasmania, 108 in the ACT and 29 in the NT.
The world faces the worst global recession in nearly a century, a key economic body warned Wednesday, while in Europe, restrictions to fight the spread of coronavirus portend a bleak summer tourism season even as more nations announced plans to welcome visitors again.
A health worker takes a swab test of an elderly man for Covid 19 in New Delhi, India. Photo / AP
Beginning June 16, Austria will open up to all European neighbours with the exception of Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Britain, meaning that visitors from 31 countries will no longer be required to undergo a two-week quarantine upon arrival. Greece, another European holiday hot spot, will allow tourists to fly to Athens or the main northern city of Thessaloniki beginning on June 15.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Wednesday that global economic output could fall by as much as 7.6 per cent this year if a second wave of infections emerges, with the pandemic's economic impact expected to be even harsher in Europe because of the continent's strict and relatively lengthy coronavirus lockdowns.
In the eurozone, which includes the 19 European Union nations that use the common euro currency, GDP is expected to plunge 11.5 per cent this year in case of a second wave and by over 9 per cent even if another round of infections is avoided.
"Now we're in the midst of ... perhaps the most global health, economic and social crisis and it's simply the most severe any of us have ever witnessed," OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said during the presentation of the report in Paris. He named tourism and air travel among the "critical" sectors hard hit by the pandemic and urged countries to cooperate in developing and fairly distributing a vaccine for the virus.
People in personal protective suits prepare to bury a relative who died of Covid 19 at a cemetery in New Delhi, India.
"As long as a virus is widespread somewhere, the threat will remain everywhere and economic costs will persist as some borders remain closed," Gurria said, with the report predicting that the crisis would leave "long-lasting scars," including lower living standards, high unemployment and weak investment.
The virus has infected 7.2 million people worldwide and killed nearly 412,000, about 180,000 of them in Europe, according to official figures tallied by Johns Hopkins University. The true toll is believed to be much higher because many people died without being tested.
