Europe

PARIS, April 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The worldwide death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 186,462 on Thursday, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1900 GMT.

The global death toll rose by 4,576 over the past 24 hours and a total number of cases increased by 68,017 worldwide.

More than 2,675,050 declared cases have been registered in 193 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December.

Of these cases, at least 708,400 are now considered recovered.

BRUSSELS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of European Union (EU) states, though under mounting pressure to prop up their virus-stricken economies, failed to nail down a much-awaited recovery plan at a video-summit on Thursday.

LONDON, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Another 616 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died in hospitals in Britain as of Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 18,738, the Department of Health and Social Care said Thursday.

As of Thursday morning, 138,078 people have tested positive for COVID-19, marking a daily increase of 4,583, said the department.

GENEVA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- All available evidence to date suggests that the novel coronavirus, which has caused the ongoing pandemic, has a natural animal origin and is not a manipulated or constructed virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a daily situation report on Thursday.

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/: The US lost trust in Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, and write him off, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

"The very fact that the plan for some democratic transition was announced by the US Secretary of State [Mike Pompeo], and not the so-called ‘interim president’ of Venezuela [Juan] Guaido, proves that the Americans no longer trust their appointee and, effectively, apparently, write him off," she said.

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/: BRICS member states (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) could increase their funding of the World Health Organization (WHO) and to expand medical cooperation with other states due to the US decision to withdraw its contributions to the organization, Dmitry Suslov, deputy head of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies of the Higher School of Economics National Research University, said on Thursday.

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/: The nuclear deal does not limit Iran’s right to explore space, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday, commenting on the launch of Iran’s Noor military satellite.

According to her, the United States’ call on the UN Security Council to assess if Tehran’s move was in line with Resolution 2231 was "a dirty trick." "Neither the Resolution nor the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action limit Tehran’s right and ability to peacefully explore space and develop national space programs," Zakharova pointed out.

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/: Reports that patients with coronavirus diagnosis will have to pay for their treatment in case of hospitalization not by ambulance are not true, the Moscow Health Department announced on its website Thursday.

The department noted that a number of media outlets published reports, alleging that people, hospitalized over coronavirus symptoms not by ambulance will have to pay for their treatment themselves.

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/: The Kremlin has seen media reports that the American authorities had launched investigations into suspicious transactions with oil futures to find out whether oil traders might have raked in millions of dollars by having insider information about the OPEC+ interaction strategy project prepared by Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"We have seen reports in the mass media but we do not know to what extent they are consistent with facts," Peskov said.

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/:  Russia’s Interior Ministry will neither deport foreign nationals nor cancel their documents amid the coronavirus pandemic, head of the Ministry’s Main Directorate for Migration Affairs Valentina Kazakova told reporters.

"No deportation and expulsion decisions will be made during this period, the documents that foreign nationals hold won’t be cancelled. These include visas, work permits and licenses, permanent residence and temporary residence permits," she said.