Anadolu Agency's Morning Briefing - April 6, 2020

ANKARA (AA) - Here is Anadolu Agency’s rundown of the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic in Turkey and across the world.

The novel coronavirus continues rapidly spreading around the world. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases globally is now over 1.2 million while over 69,000 people have died and more than 260,000 have made recoveries.

Turkey on Sunday confirmed 73 more deaths and 3,135 new cases, bringing the death toll to 574 and the tally of cases to 27,069.

While efforts to curb novel coronavirus have been going on in the world, a Turkish virologist from Turkey’s Ankara University has successfully isolated SARS-COV-2, also known as COVID-19, in a bid to produce a vaccine against the virus.

Although the death toll in Spain reached 12,418, Spain has seen a significant decline in the daily death toll from coronavirus. Moreover, Spanish officials suggested that the country is on the verge of reaching a peak on new infections. Surpassing, one of the worst-hit countries, Italy, Spain had become the European country with the most confirmed cases of the virus.

Italy on Sunday reported 525 more deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of fatalities to 15,887.

As for the other European heavyweights, the death toll in Germany climbed to 1,524, while in France rose to 8,078 and the U.K. registered 4,934 deaths.

Also in Iran, the number of deaths from COVID-19 reached 3,603. The U.S. still has the most infected cases with 312,249, while the death toll surpassed the 8,500 mark in the country.

Coronavirus tallies rose in 10 Arab countries, including Kuwait, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Oman, Libya, Syria and Palestine.

War-torn Libya’s former Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril died of the novel coronavirus in Egypt. Jibril, 68, was referred to a hospital in the Egyptian capital Cairo on March 27 after testing positive for COVID-19.

Morocco’s monarch Mohammed VI pardoned 5,645 prisoners in preventive measures against coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine urged global action for Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons.

In other news, Muhammad Ali Yunis, a prominent Hezbollah commander, was killed by unknown gunmen on Sunday morning in southern Lebanon.

Separately, Turkey's efforts on fighting against terrorism also continue in Syria, with seven YPG/PKK terrorists in Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield zone, northwestern Syria.

Another news came in from Indian subcontinent. The International Federation of Journalists and the South Asia Media Solidarity Network launched a four-day-long social media campaign to highlight Kashmir’s ongoing internet controls amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In other news, Irish football manager Stephen Kenny was appointed as the head coach of the Republic of Ireland national team.

Three players of Serie A club Fiorentina; Patrick Cutrone, German Pezzella, and Dusan Vlahovic have recovered from the novel coronavirus.