In its most recent report, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday that 5.2 million Americans have applied for the govern
ment's unemployment benefit in the past week, bringing the total number of applicants in one month to more than 20 million.
U.S. measures to combat the emerging coronavirus have stifled the country's economic sectors to a degree not seen since the Great Depression nearly a century ago.
ment's unemployment benefit in the past week, bringing the total number of applicants in one month to more than 20 million.
U.S. measures to combat the emerging coronavirus have stifled the country's economic sectors to a degree not seen since the Great Depression nearly a century ago.
Meanwhile, seven northeastern states have announced extended public quarantine measures to contain the Corona epidemic until May 15, despite reports that U.S. President Donald Trump is ready to announce an end to such measures in some of the least affected states.
On Wednesday, Trump suggested that his country had weathered the height of the Corona epidemic, and said he would announce new measures on Thursday to reopen the states to business and economic activity.
Trump said some states will open before May 1, and noted that his country has made significant progress in the field of drugs used to treat people living with HIV.
The United States is the world's most severely affected country with the new CORONA virus; the total number of confirmed cases in its territory exceeds 641,000, of whom more than 31,000 have died.
U.S. Criticism of China
Meanwhile, U.S. officials have stepped up their accusations that China has been responsible for what has become of the virus since the virus first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday that he believes China's leaders are misled and misled about the outbreak.
Esper told NBC's Today program that he finds it hard to believe information from the ruling Chinese Communist Party, adding, \"They're misleading us, they kept it quiet in the early days of this virus, so I don't even have much confidence that they're telling us the truth now.\"
On Wednesday, Trump said his administration was trying to find out if the new Coronavirus was created in a laboratory in Wuhan.
In the same vein, the U.S. secretary of state said China should be honest.
U.S. Investigation
U.S. officials' comments coincided with a CNN report, in which u.S. national intelligence and security officials were quoted as saying that the U.S. government was looking into the possibility that the new coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory, not in a market for wild animal meat and fish, China says.
Declaration
However, these sources stressed that it was too early to draw any conclusions from this investigation.
China denies accusations
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the World Health Organization (WHO) has found no evidence that the new coronavirus was produced in a laboratory.
Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a press conference that WHO officials 'have repeatedly said that there is no evidence that the new CORONA virus has been laboratory-created'. But the spokesman did not directly comment on Trump's remarks in this context.
Globally, the epidemic continues to plague many countries, with a total of 2.1 million confirmed cases, more than 140,000 deaths recorded, and more than 532,000 recovered, according to the latest statistics released by Johns Hopkins University on Thursday evening.
Europe is still in the eye of the storm.
WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Klug said European countries were still in the eye of the storm as the number of people infected with MERS-CoV approached the one million mark.
He also warned that any relaxation of restrictions imposed to reduce the spread of the virus must be done gradually.
Several European countries had begun to ease some of their procedures; they had partially opened schools and some shops.
The virus has claimed more than 90,000 lives in Europe, more than 65% of all deaths worldwide, according to an AFP count on Thursday.
With this ratio of deaths to total infections, Europe remains the continent most affected by the new CORONA virus.
All-Japan emergency
The Japanese government has decided to extend the state of emergency to the whole country, amid a sharp rise in the number of MERS-CoV infections.
Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in only seven states, including Tokyo, Osaka and five major cities. Abe then called for a reduction in communication between people by up to 80% to prevent the spread of the virus. However, the number of casualties has continued to rise to more than 8,700, and the country has recorded some 180 deaths.
Source: Al Jazeera + Agencies
