Today the world will most likely reach the milestone of 12 million coronavirus cases. The United States now has almost 3.1 million Covid-19 infections, after another record-breaking 55,000 new ones declared yesterday alone.
The virus still poses a serious threat in South America as well. Brazil leads the tally there with almost 1.7 million infections, followed by Peru (309,000) and Chile (301,000), both of which have now surpassed Spain and the UK, the countries with the highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe.
Other countries where the disease is spreading at a dangerous pace still include Russia (almost 700,000 cases) and India (744,000).
On account of the serious impact of the pandemic all over the world and the expectations that the economy might take longer than estimated earlier to recover, stock indices are not performing well today in some regions. There was a 0.4% drop in the European STOXX 600. In the United States the indices are not falling, but aren’t rising either.
There is a glimmer of hope in Asia, where the pandemic is all but over, and stocks are doing better in general. This is regardless of Donald Trump’s statement that he might take action against the peg of Hong Kong’s currency to the USD.
Despite the dire situation with the coronavirus in the United States, US President Donald Trump formally announced that the country will sever its ties with the World Health Organization. Trump already hinted at such a move a few weeks back, when he criticized the WHO for being too soft on China and, in his opinion, not demanding more information about the coronavirus that originated there.
The United States is the biggest sponsor of the World Health Organization, responsible for about 15% of its budget. Trump’s decision to abandon the WHO was criticized by Democrats and some Republicans. Joe Biden said he will make the US rejoin the organization on his very first day in office, provided he wins the elections.
