Morning Briefing - April 3, 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 million while over 53,000 people have died and over 211,000 have made recoveries.

Turkey on Thursday confirmed 79 more deaths and 2,456 new cases, bringing the death toll to 356 and the total cases to 18,135.

Italy, one of world's worst-hit countries, reported 760 new deaths due to COVID-19, which rose the total death toll to 13,915 in the country.

As for other European heavyweights, the death toll in Spain topped 10,000, while in France rose to 4,503, the U.K. registered 2,921 deaths, and in Germany, fatalities surged past 1,000.

Also in Iran, the number of deaths from COVID-19 reached 3,160, and the U.S. still has most infected cases with 250,000 while the death toll surpassed 6,000 mark in the country.

Coronavirus continues contracting politicians and diplomats around the world. Ambassador of Philippines to Lebanon, Bernardita Catalla, 62, who suffered from chronic respiratory problems, died of the virus.

Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and his wife, and Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani tested positive for the virus.

Thailand banned all international arrivals until April 15, Saudi Arabia imposed curfew in Makkah and Medina, and Russia expanded non-work period till April 30 to stem the spread of the coronavirus in their countries.

Meanwhile, the UN adopted its first resolution on the coronavirus which stressed global solidarity and international cooperation against the outbreak as well as highlighted the need to respect human rights and oppose any form of discrimination, racism and xenophobia in the response to the crisis.

Separately, Turkey's efforts on fighting against terrorism also continues in Syria, as the country neutralized 14 YPG/PKK terrorists in Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield zone, northwestern Syria.

Twitter shut down thousands of accounts linked to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, several of which were involved in a smear campaign critical of Turkey and the Turkish government.

Another news came from Iraq on early Friday that the country's authorities banned the international Reuters news agency from operating in Iraq for three months for reporting that the number of the nation’s coronavirus cases is much higher than official figures, the claims also were rejected by the Health Ministry.

Although Libya confirmed the first death from the virus, the clash has not stopped, as in the last 24 hours, two civilians were killed by Haftar forces and later the UN-recognized Government of National Accord forces killed 20 Haftar militia members in Sirte.