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US has confirmed one million virus cases

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Daily US Times: The United States has confirmed one million coronavirus cases, which is almost a third of the total global tally.

The main two reasons behind this high number are a large number of tests being carried out and a large population (around 330 million).

Over the past two months, the US has carried out around 5.7 million tests. The number seems pretty high, but the country had conducted 16.3 tests per 1,000 people – behind Italy at 30.6 per 1,000 people, according to data by Our World in Data.

President Donald Trump suggested the US could soon achieve the goal of testing five million people a day, saying we’re going to be there very soon”.

Mr Trump’s forecast is optimistic as the country is currently testing around 200,000 people a day.

It has not made clear yet who qualifies to be tested in the US.

New York Mayor criticizes Jewish funeral gathering

Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York, has criticized some Hasidic Jews in the city after hundreds gathered for the funeral of a rabbi who had died with the virus.

Mayor himself went to the spot to disperse the crowds.

He described such gatherings as unacceptable in a tweet and warned it would only lead to more deaths.

The city is the hardest hit in the US, where more than 17,000 deaths have been confirmed.

Mayor De Blasio said he had instructed police to summons or arrest people gathering in large groups.

Maradona hopes ‘Hand of God’ can end pandemic

Maradona, the Argentine football legend and arguably one of the best talent of the game ever, hopes the “Hand of God” can beat the coronavirus pandemic after fate helped the club he coaches avoid relegation.

Maradona’s La Plata-based Gimnasia side were saved from dropping out of the Argentine top-flight after the league was restructured because of the pandemic.

In the 1986 World Cup, Maradona famously used his hand to score against England, labelling the act as the Hand of God.

Source: Getty Images

He said: “This happened to us [Gimnasia] and many people are calling it a new Hand of God.”

“I am asking for that hand to do away with the pandemic so people can get back to living their lives, with health and happiness.”

How effective contact tracing apps?

Singapore and Australia have contact-tracing apps for the coronavirus- and the UK might get one within weeks.

These apps work by tracking a user’s location and then alerting them if they come into contact with an infected person.

Australian government announced to its citizens that downloading the tracing app is the ticket out of lockdown – so far almost three million people have done so.

But one expert from National University of Singapore says these contact-tracing apps aren’t without their problems – privacy for one, is an issue.

Source: Getty Images

Prof James Crabtree said: “There is a broader question of how data will be protected, where it will be stored and how long will it be used for? The idea is that it is used only for contact tracing.”

[But] the temptation will be to keep it and use it for other things,” he added.

China to hold delayed parliamentary gathering

China is delaying annual parliamentary gathering at the end of next month, the country has announced.

If the announcement of its postponement, back in February, was a sign of just how serious the virus was, its rescheduling is a clear signal that the authorities believe they now have it under control.

The event usually sees 3,000 delegates traveling to Beijing from all over China – poses an infection risk in itself, and there’s speculation that some may be asked to join via video link.

China is facing criticism that it downplayed covered up the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. The virus has later spread all over the world and thousands of deaths have been confirmed.

Meanwhile, there have been 217,207 deaths confirmed across the globe.

You may read: How New Zealand beat the coronavirus

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