COVID Latest: USA Death Toll Hits 100,000
Thursday: VIC cops most corona fines; probe into youngest Aus death
Morning! It’s Thursday, May 28. Here’s today’s ‘5+5: coronavirus edition’.
Each day I’m bringing you 5 things to know about COVID-19 + 5 non-corona things too.
If you haven’t already, please sign up above ^^ to get this every day in your emails (and tell your friends).
You can email me at joshbutler.journalist@protonmail.com for tips, ideas or want to chat. You can also find me on Twitter at @joshbutler; on Facebook; or on Instagram.
Wash your hands and sneeze into your elbow. Remember physical distancing - at least 1.5 metres of separation.
Latest Australian stats: as of 9pm Wednesday, Australia has 7139 reported cases of COVID-19, with 6566 reported as ‘recovered’; there have been 103 deaths; and more than 1,338,000 tests have been done, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. Full global stats breakdown below.
5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
American death toll hits 100,000
The USA has marked a grim milestone, its coronavirus death toll soaring past 100,000 (link). America has the most reported deaths in the world by a factor of three, and the most cases by more than a factor of four.
The U.S. recorded its first case on January 21. As of 8.30am Thursday, the U.S. has officially recorded 100,271 deaths. Full global stats breakdown below.
Youngest death investigation
Authorities are probing how a 30-year-old man in Queensland contracted coronavirus, and later died (link). Nathan Turner is Australia’s youngest known COVID death, but it is not known how the man — living in central QLD — picked up the virus, or from who. Deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly said “we haven’t had many people in rural areas in any state and so at this point in the pandemic it is a concern”.
‘Cannibal rat plague’ to hit Sydney
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, The Guardian now reports a “new rat plague” could swarm Sydney, spurred by a dip in human activity in the city (link). Because fewer people are out and about, and therefore dropping less food and rubbish in rat centres, the rodents are heading into residential areas, and turning on each other to eat.
“If they produce babies they can’t support, they kill them. Or one of their relatives comes in and kills them… They will eat other rats that die,” Professor Peter Banks, a University of Sydney rodent expert, told The Guardian.
Victorians cop most fines for COVID breaches
New data has shown Victoria Police issued three more coronavirus lockdown fines than any other state, with around 6000 people punished for breaches of public health orders (link). QLD was next with 2000, then NSW on 1300.
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 8.30am AEST Thursday) report 5,682,389 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 354,944 deaths.
The United States has 1,657,459 confirmed cases, with Brazil next but far behind on 411,821, then Russia (370,680). The U.S. has the most deaths (100,271), then the United Kingdom (37,542) and Italy third on 33,072.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 9pm Wednesday) show 7139 cases, 6566 people recovered, 103 deaths, and 1,338,321 tests.
The latest Australian graph:
5 NON-CORONAVIRUS THINGS
Bad weather in Florida has stopped the launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket to the International Space Station this morning (link).
After Twitter put a fact-check link on some of Donald Trump’s incorrect and baseless tweets about mail-in ballot papers (as we covered in yesterday’s edition), the U.S. President has taken aim at social media companies, promising he “will strongly regulate, or close them down” (link).
Big protests have broken out in the U.S. city of Minneapolis, after another black man died during a police arrest (link). George Floyd’s death, caught on camera, came after officers kneeled on his neck while handcuffing him. Four police involved in the arrest have been fired, and there are calls for them to be charged over Floyd’s death.
More than 30 people have been arrested across Europe in connection with the 39 migrant bodies found in the back of a truck in England last year (link).
Questions are still being raised over how mining giant Rio Tinto was permitted to blast ancient Aboriginal heritage sites — 46,000 years old — in WA’s Pilbara region (link).
IMPORTANT EVERY DAY
Be hygienic; wash your hands properly, at least 30 seconds with soap and water, multiple times a day (here’s how you need to do it, plus a handy Dr Karl video tutorial); sneeze and cough into your elbows.
Listen to only official information from the World Health Organisation and legitimate health bodies — Don’t share dodgy stuff on Facebook. If it looks too good (or bad) to be true, it often is.
World Health Organisation latest statistics here.
Australian government latest statistics here.
Signing off — stay safe, be healthy, look after yourself and others.
Josh