Madrid, Mar 26: More than three billion people around the world were living under lockdown on Wednesday as governments stepped up their efforts against the coronavirus pandemic which has left more than 20,000 people dead.
As the number of confirmed cases worldwide soared past 450,000, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that only a concerted global effort could stop the spread of the virus.
In Spain, the number of fatalities surpassed those of China, where the novel coronavirus first emerged three months ago, making it the hardest-hit nation after Italy.
A total of more than 20,800 deaths have now been reported in 182 countries and territories, according to an AFP tally.
Stock markets rebounded after the US Congress moved closer to passing a $2.2 trillion relief package to prop up a teetering US economy.
In Washington, President Donald Trump said New York, the epicenter of the US outbreak with over 30,000 cases, likely has a few "tough weeks" ahead but he would decide soon whether unaffected parts of the country can get back to work.
"We want to get our country going again," Trump said. "I'm not going to do anything rash or hastily.
"By Easter we'll have a recommendation and maybe before Easter," said Trump, who had been touting a strong US economy as he faces an election in November.
UN chief Guterres said the world needs to ban together to stem the pandemic.
"COVID-19 is threatening the whole of humanity -- and the whole of humanity must fight back," Guterres said, launching an appeal for $2 billion to help the world's poor.
"Global action and solidarity are crucial," he said. "Individual country responses are not going to be enough."
India's stay-at-home order for its 1.3 billion people is now the biggest, taking the total number of individuals facing restrictions on their daily lives to more than three billion.
Anxious Indians raced for supplies after the world's second-biggest population was ordered not to leave their houses for three weeks.
Russia, which announced the death of two patients who tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, is expected to follow suit.
President Vladimir Putin declared next week a public holiday and postponed a public vote on controversial constitutional reforms, urging people to follow instructions given by authorities.
In Britain, heir to the throne Prince Charles became the latest high-profile figure to be infected, though he has suffered only mild symptoms.
The G20 major economies will hold an emergency videoconference on Thursday to discuss a global response to the crisis, as will the 27 leaders of the European Union, the outbreak's new epicenter.
China has begun to relax its own draconian restrictions on free movement in the province of Hubei -- where the outbreak began in December -- after the country reported no new cases.
Crowds jammed trains and buses in the province as people took their first opportunity to travel.
But Spain saw the number of deaths surge to more than 3,400 after 738 people died in the past 24 hours and the government announced a 432-million-euro ($467 million) deal to buy medical supplies from Beijing.
The death toll in Italy jumped in 24 hours by 683 to 7,503 -- by far the highest of any country.
The number of French deaths was up by 231 on Wednesday to more than 1,330, and metro and rail services in Paris were cut to a minimum.
Spain and Italy were joined by France and six more EU countries in urging Germany and the Netherlands to allow the issue of joint European bonds to cut borrowing costs and stabilise the eurozone economy.
The call is likely to fall on deaf ears when EU leaders talk on Thursday -- with northern members wary of pooling debt with big spenders -- but they will sign off on an "unprecedented" recovery plan.
At La Paz University Hospital in Madrid, nurse Guillen del Barrio sounded bereft as he related what happened overnight.
"It is really hard, we had feverish people for many hours in the waiting room," the 30-year-old told AFP.
"Many of my colleagues were crying because there were people who are dying alone, without seeing their family for the last time."
Coronavirus cases are also spreading in the Middle East, where Iran's death toll topped 2,000, and in Africa, where Mali declared its first case and several nations announced states of emergency.
In Japan, which has postponed this year's Olympic Games, Tokyo's governor urged residents to stay home this weekend, warning of a possible "explosion" of the coronavirus.
Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed by Christians to house Christ's tomb, was shut as Israel tightened movement restrictions.
The impact of the pandemic is also hitting European football, with leagues and tournaments cancelled, while the fate of the Wimbledon tennis tournament could be decided next week.
The economic damage of the virus -- and the lockdowns -- could also be devastating, with fears of a worldwide recession worse than the financial meltdown more than a decade ago.
But financial markets rose after US leaders reached agreement on a stimulus package worth roughly 10 percent of the US economy, an injection Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said represented a "wartime level of investment."
Meanwhile, more than half of all Americans have been told to stay at home, including residents of the largest state, California.
The United States has at least 65,700 cases and 942 people have died.
The PIL, filed by seven Uttar Pradesh residents, has sought the court's direction to ensure that no animal is killed during the festival, called the feast of sacrifice, which is to be celebrated early next week.
Comments
they train how to slit the throat for their kids .. no wonder ISIS militrants love throat slitting and beheading ...they rejoice the kill ... it must be banned ...countries throat slitting activities are terrorism , rapes , smugling , hawala , robbing and thefts .. needless to say who are in large no ... hahaha ... so it is the effect of this ..makla justification nodri .. upper part na slice maadi pain agda haage koltaranthe ...adu dodda rocket science nanmaklige ...haha.. 150 crores iddu ondu nobel tegello yogyathe illa ...science bagge maatu .. hogree hogree fish sales madi hogi ... delivery time aithu :)
Halal best method.
Even yogesh also certified that halal is best way. In halal method. Animals and plants doesnt feel pain.
@yogesh
Well said, that's why we say that halal method either veg or animal, is the best method. because of the speed both doesn't feel pain at all.
at last u agree Halal is the best Method. When u accidentally cut ur finger, u wont
in halal method animals don't feel pain. what about fish, which die very painfully.
stop eating fish also. fish is also vishnu's avatar, which is more holier than cow.
muslims don't eat pig, because it is dirty and filthy, carries lots of diseases
hindus don't eat cow. why. is it dirty and filthy too.
in halal method, animals feel zero pain, proved by science. it is also proved that halal food is more tastier than non halal. and there is no blood in the meat in halal method, even science says halal is the best method. even non-muslims in western countries wants halal chicken, just check the restaurant in usa name is halal guys restaurant. people stand in queue, most of them are non-muslims. next to the restaurant there is one more restaurant, which is non-halal. which is fully empty
Do animals have rights?
The vegetarian argument is that killing animals for the benefit of humans is cruel and an infringement of their rights. They put both on the same level without conceding any superiority to humans over animals. This argument is seriously flawed, because if animals had rights comparable to those of humans, they must also have equivalent duties. In other words, we must be able to blame them and punish them if they violate the rights of others. It is absurd that it should be considered a crime for humans to kill a sheep, but natural for a lion to do so. The problem stems from a misconception of the role of human life within the animal kingdom: a denial of purposeful creation within a clearly defined hierarchy degrades humans to the level of any other creature. Yet even then, the argument is illogical: Why should plants, for example, be denied the same protection from a violation of the sanctity of their life?
Is Islamic slaughter cruel?
The question of how an animal should be slaughtered to avoid cruelty is a different one. It is true that when the blood flows from the throat of an animal it looks violent, but just because meat is now bought neatly and hygienically packaged on supermarket shelves does not mean the animal didn’t have to die? Non-Islamic slaughter methods dictate that the animal should be rendered unconscious before slaughter. This is usually achieved by stunning or electrocution. Is it less painful to shoot a bolt into a sheep’s brain or to ring a chicken’s neck than to slit its throat? To watch the procedure does not objectively tell us what the animal feels.
The scientific facts
A team at the university of Hannover in Germany examined these claims through the use of EEG and ECG records during slaughter. Several electrodes were surgically implanted at various points of the skull of all the animals used in the experiment and they were then allowed to recover for several weeks. Some of the animals were subsequently slaughtered the halal way by making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck, cutting the jugular veins and carotid arteries of both sides together with the trachea and esophagus but leaving the spinal cord intact. The remainder were stunned before slaughter using a captive bolt pistol method as is customary in Western slaughterhouses. The EEG and ECG recordings allowed to monitor the condition of the brain and heart throughout.
The Halal method
With the halal method of slaughter, there was not change in the EEG graph for the first three seconds after the incision was made, indicating that the animal did not feel any pain from the cut itself. This is not surprising. Often, if we cut ourselves with a sharp implement, we do not notice until some time later. The following three seconds were characterized by a condition of deep sleep-like unconsciousness brought about by the draining of large quantities of blood from the body. Thereafter the EEG recorded a zero reading, indicating no pain at all, yet at that time the heart was still beating and the body convulsing vigorously as a reflex reaction of the spinal cord. It is this phase which is most unpleasant to onlookers who are falsely convinced that the animal suffers whilst its brain does actually no longer record any sensual messages.
The Western method
Using the Western method, the animals were apparently unconscious after stunning, and this method of dispatch would appear to be much more peaceful for the onlooker. However, the EEG readings indicated severe pain immediately after stunning. Whereas in the first example, the animal ceases to feel pain due to the brain starvation of blood and oxygen – a brain death, to put it in laymen’s terms – the second example first causes a stoppage of the heart whilst the animal still feels pain. However, there are no unsightly convulsions, which not only means that there is more blood retention in the meat, but also that this method lends itself much more conveniently to the efficiency demands of modern mass slaughter procedures. It is so much easier to dispatch an animal on the conveyor belt, if it does not move.
Yogesh, Lol, you explained halal veg in best way... anyone can understand now.. all doubts cleared.
after sacrifice animal we are not throwing meat and not keeping meat to eat ghost. we share all the meat to poor people and our family.we are not wasting the meat. if you care that much about animal you should ban eating non veg (chicken mutton)
I am surprised to see why they dont file PIL from banning export of beef meat. Very strange. Why they are maintaining double standard.
Government can allow Indian cow meat for foreigners to eat....this is very bad and disgusting policy....
On Eid day he feels \Cruel\" other days ?
What about vegetables right? even number of studies prove that plants feel pain. Can people stop using plant and vegetable ?
Court should have right to panish if some one file the IPL which does not make any sence and causing unnessary focus, contradict the constituional rights and waste of court time etc.,"
We Muslims sacrifice animals once in a year.But our Hindu brother's sacrifices animals every now and then in the name of Balidhan.We Muslims are not bothered about the PIL.Bec we blindly believe in Almighty Allah.
You have to file PIL against killing of HUmans first
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