Coronavirus: China reports 27 new fatalities
Beijing: China on Sunday reported 27 new deaths from coronavirus, the lowest number of fatalities in more than a month, taking the death toll to 3,097, while the COVID-19 infections for the first time fell below 50 since the disease surfaced in Hubei province in January.
All the 27 deaths occurred in the virus-hit central Hubei province, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said.
The confirmed cases for the first time fell below 50 since COVID-19 surfaced in Hubei province in January. Of the 44 new cases reported on Saturday, 41 were in Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.
The overall confirmed cases on the mainland has risen to 80,695 by the end of Saturday. The total number of deaths reached 3,097.
Over 20,500 patients were still undergoing treatment and 57,065 discharged after recovery, the NHC said.
Also on Saturday, three coronavirus cases in people arriving from abroad were reported, including two in Beijing and one in Gansu province. By the end of Saturday, 63 such cases had been reported, the NHC said.
By the end of Saturday, 109 confirmed cases including two deaths in Hong Kong, 10 confirmed cases in Macao and 45 in Taiwan including one death were reported.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that a total of 21,114 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported by 93 countries and regions outside China - an increase of 3,633 infections from the previous day.
The number of confirmed cases worldwide has risen to 101,927, the WHO said on Saturday. Outside China, 78 more people died of COVID-19, bringing the total deaths to 413, Xinhua reported, quoting a WHO report.
According to WHO's daily situation report on Saturday, there has been 3,486 deaths worldwide due to the coronavirus.
Colombia, the Vatican, Peru, Togo and Slovakia have reported cases of COVID-19 for the first time in the past 24 hours, the WHO report said.
The world health body has revised the transmission classification of Iceland, Palestine and Cameroon from "imported cases only" to "local transmission", bringing the total number of countries and regions where local transmission emerged to 45 in addition to China.
It said the spread of COVID-19 can be significantly slowed or even reversed through implementing robust containment and control activities.
China and other countries are demonstrating that the spread of the virus can be slowed and impact reduced through the use of universally applicable actions, WHO said in a statement, referring to measures such as working across society to identify people who are sick, bringing them to care, following up on contacts, and training health workers.
It underlined that containing and slowing the spread of the virus helps buy time for health systems and all of society to prepare and for researchers to identify effective treatments and develop vaccines.
"Allowing uncontrolled spread should not be a choice of any government, as it will harm not only the citizens of that country but affect other countries as well," it said.
The WHO said it will continue to work with all countries, partners and expert networks to coordinate the international response, develop guidance, distribute supplies, share knowledge and provide people with the information so as to protect themselves and others.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
