Coronavirus latest: New York’s death toll tops 18,000, corpses found in rental trucks; 528 new cases in Singapore
- Russia’s tally passes 100,000 with record daily rise; Trump won’t extend social distancing guidelines
- Gilead trial results raise hope for treatment; Mining boss secures 10 million coronavirus tests from China for Australia
On a day of gloom, scientists offered a ray of hope: the first effective treatment against the coronavirus.
The US government said it is working to make the antiviral medication remdesivir available to patients as quickly as possible after a major study found it shortened the time it takes for Covid-19 patients to recover by four days on average - from 15 days to 11.
The news came as US deaths from the novel coronavirus passed 60,000 on Wednesday and the outbreak will soon be deadlier than any flu season since 1967.
The United States has the world’s highest coronavirus death toll and a daily average of 2,000 people died in April of the highly contagious respiratory illness Covid-19.
Fears that Covid-19 could trigger the biggest global recession for a century heightened with the grim figures from the United States, and further bad news from European powerhouse Germany and a host of major companies worldwide.
Almost 3.2 million people have been infected worldwide, with the global death toll from the virus exceeding 225,000. The US alone has more than 1 million confirmed cases.