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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.
- Some 251,059 people around the world have now died from COVID-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed cases exceeds 3.5 million, while nearly 1.2 million people have recovered.
- China’s state broadcaster CCTV attacked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s comments on the origins of the coronavirus as “insane and evasive”.
- The US could see up to 3,000 deaths per day from the coronavirus by June 1, according to documents obtained by The New York Times newspaper.
- Italy was among countries in Europe and around the world that began cautiously easing lockdowns imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Here are the latest updates:
Tuesday, May 5
03:05 GMT – Germany reports 685 new cases, 139 more deaths
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute says the number of coronavirus cases in the country has risen by 685, bringing the total to 163,860. A further 139 deaths were reported, bringing the total to 6,831.
02:25 GMT – Fugitive in China gives himself up after failing to get health code
Health monitoring through phone apps is at the centre of China’s return to normal life after the coronavirus outbreak.
The app is colour-coded according to each person’s health status, and allows them to move around, get work and even buy food.
But it seems it has also ensnared a man who had been on the run for more than two decades after a killing. The Global Times says he turned himself in because he couldn’t get the code.
A man from NW #China‘s #Gansu Province who had been at large for 24 years for killing someone finally turned himself in #Zhejiang as he has no green health code amid #COVID19 to allow him to find a job, rent a house and buy food. pic.twitter.com/Q8Fgx0VvEI
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) May 5, 2020
01:45 GMT – New Zealand reports no new cases for second day
New Zealand has recorded no new coronavirus cases for the second day in a row, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined a coronavirus cabinet meeting with Australia.
The two countries discussed opening borders and Ardern said it was unlikely New Zealand would have open borders with the rest of the world for a “long time” it was looking to work something out with Australia.
More:
23:50 GMT – China reports one new case of coronavirus, no deaths
China’s National Health Commission says the country found just one case of coronavirus on Monday, in someone who had returned from overseas. It also reported 15 asymptomatic cases of the disease.
There were no new deaths.
Read all the updates from yesterday (May 4) here.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
