The US government was slow to understand how fast coronavirus was spreading from Europe, which accelerated outbreaks across the country, said Dr Anne Schuchat, the number-two official at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- The World Health Organization has reiterated that the coronavirus is believed to be “natural in origin”, responding to a claim by US President Donald Trump that he had seen evidence that indicated the virus emerged from a virology institute in Wuhan, China.
- Worldwide, the number of confirmed infections stands above 3.35 million, with nearly 239,000 deaths and approximately 1.05 million recoveries.
- The coronavirus is ravaging Brazil’s poor, tightly-packed neighbourhoods where the disease is harder to control. There were 92,200 cases in Brazil with 6,412 deaths reported.