Geneva, May 27: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide has increased by nearly 100,000 over the past 24 hours to surpass 5.4 million, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
According to the WHO, the global case tally currently stands at 5,404,512 -- a rise by 99,780 over the past day.
The death count worldwide amounts to 343,514 -- an increase by 1,486.
Most cases of infection are recorded in the Americas -- 2,454,452, with 143,739 deaths.
Beijing, May 18: China has reported 25 new COVID-19 patients, the health authorities said on Monday, as 14 asymptomatic cases were detected in Wuhan, the first epicentre of the coronavirus where officials are doing mass testing of the city's entire 11 million population, taking the number of such cases in the city to 337, the highest in the country.
The death toll in China remained at 4,634 on Sunday with no new fatalities reported.
China's National Health Commission (NHC) reported seven new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 18 asymptomatic cases on Sunday.
Jilin province where the government has implemented strict control measures in the last few days following reports of clusters of cases in Jilin city reported two cases on Sunday, while Shanghai city has reported one.
As of Sunday, the overall confirmed cases in China had reached 82,954, including 82 patients who are still being treated, and 78,238 people who have been discharged after recovery.
Also on Sunday, 18 new asymptomatic cases including two from abroad were reported in China, taking the total number under medical observation to 448, the NHC said.
Asymptomatic cases pose a problem as the patients are tested COVID-19 positive but develop no symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat. However, they pose a risk of spreading the disease to others.
Wuhan which is undergoing mass testing of the city's entire over 11 million population to determine the prevalence of the virus has reported no new confirmed cases, but 14 new asymptomatic infections, taking the number of such cases in the city to 337, the highest in the country, according to the figures released by the local health commission on Sunday.
The death toll in Hubei province stood at 4,512, including 3,869 in Wuhan.
The province so far has reported 68,134 confirmed COVID-19 cases in total, including 50,339 in Wuhan, according to the officials figures.
As the cases dropped, China on Sunday exempted people in Beijing from wearing masks, signalling that the virus is under control in the national capital.
As the virus is abating in the country, China is opening up all its business including entertainment centres like Shanghai Disneyl and to show that it has managed to control the dreaded virus while the world is struggling with it with lockdowns and massive casualties.
The novel coronavirus which originated in Wuhan in December last year has claimed 315,185 lives and infected over 4.7 million people globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Moscow, May 19: Russia confirmed 9,263 new coronavirus infections Tuesday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 299,941.
On Sunday, the head of Russia's public health watchdog, Anna Popova, said the growth of new coronavirus cases in Russia is stabilizing.
Russia is the second most-affected country in terms of infections.
A record 115 people have died over the past 24 hours, bringing the total toll to 2,837 — a rate considerably lower than in many other countries hit hard by the pandemic.
Russia began easing nation-wide lockdown restrictions last week and announced the national football league would restart in late June.
Critics have cast doubt on Russia's low official mortality rate, accusing authorities of under-reporting in order to play down the scale of the crisis.
Russian health officials say one of the reasons the count is lower is that only deaths directly caused by the virus are being included.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova over the weekend denied manipulation of numbers, saying hospitals had a financial interest in identifying infections because they are allocated more money to treat coronavirus patients.
Authorities also say that since the virus came later to Russia, there was more time to prepare hospital beds and launch wide-scale testing to slow the spread.
May 22: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight on its way from Lahore to Karachi, crashed in the area near Jinnah International Airport on Friday, according to Civil Aviation Authority officials.
Geo News reported that the plane crashed at the Jinnah Ground area near the airport as it was approaching for landing. There were more than 90 passengers on board the Airbus aircraft. Black smoke could be seen from afar at the crash site, say eye witnesses.
There were no immediate reports on the number of casualties. The aircraft arriving from the eastern city of Lahore was carrying 99 passengers and 8 crew members, news agency AP said, quoting Abdul Sattar Kokhar, spokesman for the country’s civil aviation authority.
Witnesses said the Airbus A320 appeared to attempt to land two or three times before crashing in a residential area near Jinnah International Airport.
Flight PK-303 from Lahore was about to land in Karachi when it crashed at the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir, just a minute before its landing, Geo News reported.
Local television reports showed smoke coming from the direction of the airport. Ambulances were on their way to the airport.
News agency said Sindh’s Ministry of Health and Population Welfare has declared emergency in all major hospitals of Karachi due to the plane crash.
It’s the second plane crash for Pakistani carrier in less than four years. The airline’s chairman resigned in late 2016, less than a week after the crash of an ATR-42 aircraft killed 47 people. The incident comes as Pakistan was slowly resuming domestic flights in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg reported.
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