The latest statistics from Johns Hopkins University show the United States has the highest number of deaths in the world from COVID-19 with 105,165. The US has recorded over 1.8 million total COVID-19 cases.
The UK has the second highest number with 39,127 deaths from 277,736 cases.
The mortality rate (based on the case-fatality ratio) varies significantly within western Europe:
Belgium – 16.2%
France – 15.2%
Italy – 14.4%
UK – 14.1%
Spain – 11.3%
Germany – 4.7%
Happened
Wednesday 20th May
WHO announces that the total number of Coronavirus cases globally has reached five million.
Friday 22nd May
As European states look at appropriate ways to come out of lockdown, a World Bank report estimates three billion people globally cannot access clean water and soap to wash their hands.
USA pulls out of 1992 Open Skies Treaty.
Oxfam announces it is laying off one third of staff, 1,450 employees, and withdrawing operations from 18 countries, including Afghanistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Haiti. The charity cites a funding shortfall due to the pandemic.
Saturday 23rd May
China. In one day, over one million people in Wuhan are tested for Coronavirus.
Sunday 24th May
UK prime minister Johnson pushes forward with plans to ease the lockdown, aiming to reopen primary schools for many children on 1st June. Johnson’s key adviser and architect of the campaign to exit the EU, Dominic Cummings, is exposed as having repeatedly broken lockdown laws, but Johnson resists calls for his sacking. The Cummings affair adds to the confusion over what is permissible in the UK.
Tuesday 26th May
The UN states that Yemen’s health service has “collapsed” due to the added pressure brought by COVID-19.
Officials in Wuhan, China, announce that they are ready to rapidly test virtually all of the city’s 11 million residents for coronavirus.
Friday 29th May
UN climate change talks pushed back one year to November 2021.
Monday 1st June
The WHO’s largest donor, the USA, pulls out of the organisation.
Tuesday 2nd June
UK easing lockdown restrictions with some young children going back to school amid widespread opposition and fear of a COVID spike. The UK continues to report around 4,000 new cases every day.
UN appeals for $2.4 billion to carry out humanitarian operations in Yemen. Save the Children warns over five million Yemenis are at risk of losing access to food and clean water. An international pledging conference, hosted by the U.N. and Saudi Arabia, takes place.
Happening
