EU leaders met face to face Friday to try to rescue Europe's economy from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic, as India became the third country to record one million cases after the United States and Brazil.
The virus has now killed more than 590,000 people and infected over 13,800,000 as it continues to surge across the globe despite months of unprecedented lockdowns to stop its spread.A growing number of countries and cities across the globe have been forced into reimposing restrictions to try to stem new outbreaks, the latest being Barcelona where four million people have been urged to stay at home again.
The mood was sombre as European Union leaders met in person in Brussels for the first time in five months hoping to overcome divisions about a planned 750-billion-euro ($855 billion) stimulus package.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there were still large differences so she expected "very, very difficult negotiations".
"It's our European project which is in play here," French President Emmanuel Macron warned before meeting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who leads a group of northern European countries holding out against handing cash to southern nations without strict conditions.
World Bank chief economist Carmen Reinhart on Friday urged the G20 group to extend debt relief for the poorest nations battling the pandemic.
The Group of 20 in April agreed to a one-year moratorium to help the world's 76 most vulnerable economies but Reinhart said this step, though "useful", hasn't "gone as far as it was hoped."
Elsewhere Covid-19 is spreading at an ominous pace, with India surpassing one million infections just a day after Brazil's number topped two million.
And the United States, which has recorded more cases than both countries combined with over 3,560,000, on Thursday posted yet another record number of new infections in one day with 68,428.
The top US infectious disease specialist, Anthony Fauci, called on America's youth to take the virus more seriously.
"The sooner we put this down, the sooner we're going to get back to normal and you'll be able to freely have fun, go to the bars go with the crowds, but not now. Now is not the time to do that," he said.
Lockdowns have imposed on millions of people in India, where more than 600 are dying every day.
India's main hotspots had previously been the megacities of Mumbai and New Delhi, but smaller cities and rural areas -- where 70 percent of Indians live -- have recently begun to raise the alarm.
The coastal tourist region of Goa is the latest Indian state to go under lockdown, imposing a three-day shutdown and a nightime curfew until August 10.
With per capita spending on health care among the lowest in the world, India's hospitals are reeling.
"The fear of catching the infection is very real as I am in a high-risk zone almost round the clock," Showkat Nazir Wani, a doctor in an intensive care unit at Sharda Hospital just outside the capital New Delhi, told AFP.
"It's not going to go away till a vaccine comes... I have to keep fighting and trying to save every single life."
After two studies this week raised hopes for a potential vaccine, the United States, Britain and Canada accused Russian-linked hackers of targeting labs in their countries conducting coronavirus vaccine research.
The three governments pointed the finger at the Kremlin, saying that the hacking group involved was "almost certainly" linked to Russian intelligence.
Moscow rejected the accusations as "groundless".
In Spain, nearly four million residents of second city Barcelona were urged to stay home as the regional government ordered the closure of cinemas, theatres and nightclubs and banned gatherings of more than 10 people.
"We must take a step back to avoid returning in coming weeks to a total lockdown of the population," Catalan government spokeswoman Meritxell Budo said, barely three weeks after Spanish confinement measures were lifted.
In the US, the state of Florida has become the country's new epicentre as well as a key battleground in a partisan-tinged national fight over reopening schools.
Florida's governor Ron DeSantis has insisted schools reopen next month despite his state registering 156 Covid-19 deaths and nearly 14,000 new infections on Thursday alone.
Despite fears of a second wave, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his country could expect to return to "significant normality" by Christmas, as a study revealed that Europe's hardest-hit nation may be overestimating its death toll.
However, Israel said stores, markets and other public spaces would be closed on weekends as its number of cases surges.
In China -- where Covid-19 first emerged late last year -- flights were curtailed and public transport shut down in Urumqi, the capital of the far-western Xinjiang region, after new infections were detected.
Authorities in Australia's second-biggest city Melbourne meanwhile warned that its lockdown could become even tougher after a record 423 new cases were registered there on Friday.
