China has registered 21,600 new cases of coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours, Reuters reported.
The number of infected is less than the previous day when the number was 23,460, Chinese health authorities said. 3316 new cases are symptomatic and 18 284 are asymptomatic (Chinese authorities keep separate statistics on asymptomatic cases).
Seven deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours. The total number of deaths related to COVID-19 reached 4,648. As of 18 April, the total number of confirmed coronavirus infections in China was 188,351.
The United States convened a world meeting
The White House announced that a world summit will be held on May 12 to discuss ending the crisis with COVID-19 and to discuss future shocks, NOVA reported.
The virtual meeting will be co-chaired by the United States, as well as the current President of the G7 Germany, the President of the G20 Indonesia, the President of the African Union Senegal and Belize – the current President of the Caribbean Group CARICOM. “The summit will redouble our collective efforts to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future health threats,” the parties said in a joint statement.
This will be the second global meeting of the pandemic, which in the two years since its spread has killed more than 6 million people and caused deep shocks in leading economies and trade models. Joe Biden hosted a similar summit last September, urging partners to increase the number of vaccines and ensure that 70% of the country’s population will be vaccinated by September this year. Although global mortality is falling sharply, the virus continues to spread, preventing many leading countries from lifting restrictions altogether, and Shanghai in China is under a draconian blockade.
On the eve of the summit on 12 May, we call on world leaders, members of civil society, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists, and the private sector to make new commitments and propose solutions to vaccinate the world, save lives now and build more good health security – for everyone and everywhere, “said the joint statement from the hosts of the meeting him.
And while the latter options are less deadly, the summit statement stressed that the focus should be on preventing such future catastrophes from surprising the world. “We know we need to prepare now to build, maintain and fund the global capacity we need, not only for the new versions of COVID-19 but also for future health crises,” the statement said.
