A British charity has teamed up with scientists to see whether dogs could help detect COVID-19 through their keen sense of smell, they said on Friday.
Medical Detection Dogs will work with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Durham University in northeast England to determine whether canines could help diagnoses.
It follows previous research into dogs' ability to sniff out malaria and is based on a belief that each disease triggers a distinct odor.
The organizations said they had begun preparations to train dogs in six weeks "to help provide a rapid, non-invasive diagnosis towards the tail end of the epidemic".
The charity has previously trained dogs to detect diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's and bacterial infections by sniffing samples taken from patients.
They can also detect subtle changes in skin temperature, potentially making them useful to determining if a person has a fever.
"In principle, we're sure that dogs could detect COVID-19," said Claire Guest, founder and chief executive of Medical Detection Dogs.
"We are now looking into how we can safely catch the odour of the virus from patients and present it to the dogs.
"The aim is that dogs will be able to screen anyone, including those who are asymptomatic, and tell us whether they need to be tested.
"This would be fast, effective and non-invasive and make sure the limited NHS (National Health Service) testing resources are only used where they are really needed."
The head of disease control at the LSHTM said dogs could detect malaria with "extremely high accuracy" and, as other respiratory diseases changed body odour, there was a "very high chance" it could also work with COVID-19.
Detection dogs could be deployed at airports at the end of the epidemic to rapidly identify people carrying the virus, helping prevent the re-emergence of the disease, according to Steve Lindsay from Durham University.
Over 500,000 coronavirus infections have now been recorded across 182 countries, contributing to 22,920 deaths, according to an AFP calculation based on official country data and World Health Organization figures.
The number of actual infections is believed to be higher since many countries are only testing severe cases or patients requiring hospitalization.
Photo: Dog sniffing the ground (Raul ARBOLEDA/AFP)
Many of the proposals now under study come from research groups that have spent years working to combat similar coronaviruses, particularly SARS and MERS. All that accumulated knowledge has allowed scientists to advance at unprecedented speed.
We know, for example, that the genome of the novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, is 79% like that of SARS. We know the “key” used by the virus to get into human lung cells is protein S and that the “lock” in the cell is the ACE2 receptor. We also know that the entry of the virus is facilitated by a protease, or an enzyme that breaks down proteins, from the cell itself, called TMPRSS211.
Other SARS-CoV-2 genes get to work once the virus is inside the lung cell: the genes for RNA polymerase (RdRp), an enzyme that replicates the virus genome, and for C3CLpro and PLpro proteases, which are involved in the processing of viral proteins. These genes are likewise very similar to those of SARS.
These details are important. Understanding the biology of SARS-CoV-2 – and how it resembles or differs from other deadly viruses – facilitates the design of antiviral drugs to treat the disease and vaccines to prevent it.
Genome, structure and replication of the SARS and MERS coronaviruses.
Antivirals are drugs that interfere with the replication of harmful viruses without also harming the host cells. They can work by blocking the entry of the virus into the host cell, or by inhibiting the replication of the virus.
Chloroquine, hydrochloroquine and other virus blockers
Chloroquine has been used for years against malaria. This cheap and widely available drug is also a powerful antiviral, meaning it blocks a virus from entering human cells. Several research groups, including one at the University of Minnesota, are now studying whether it is effective in reducing the viral load in patients with SARS-CoV-2.
Some enveloped viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, enter the cell by endocytosis – a cellular process in which substances are brought into the cell – forming a small vesicle. Once inside, a drop in pH promotes the fusion of the virus envelope with the membrane of the vesicle that contains it, in order to be released into the cytoplasm.
Chloroquine prevents this drop in pH, inhibiting the fusion of the membranes and thus prevent the passage of the virus to the cell cytoplasm. Hydroxychloroquine, a less toxic derivative of chloroquine, has already been found to inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro in cell culture.
Researchers are also testing Barcitinib, an anti-inflammatory drug approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, which may also inhibit endocytosis of the virus. Another drug they are testing is camostat mesylate, a drug approved in Japan for use in treating inflammation of the pancreas, which has been shown to block the entry of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into lung cells.
Remdesivir and other viral analogues
One of the most promising antiviral treatments for SARS-CoV-2 is called remdesivir, which has been used successfully against SARS, MERS and Ebola. Remdesivir is nucleotide analogue, a major class of anti-cancer and antiviral drugs that prevents the virus from multiplying within the cell. At least 13 clinical trials are already underway in China and the United States to see if remdesivir may stop SARS-CoV-2.
Some scientists have suggested that a combination of the drugs ritonavir and lopinavir – compounds used to treat HIV – may also inhibit SARS-CoV-2 proteases, or enzymes that break down proteins. Lopinavir is a virus protease inhibitor that breaks down easily in the patient’s blood. Ritonavir is administered with lopinavir to protect it from breaking down.
At least 27 other clinical trials with experimental combinations of different antiviral treatments – such as interferon alfa-2b, ribavirin, methylprednisolone and azvudine – are now underway.
One of the most advanced efforts is happening in China with a recombinant adenovirus vector-based vaccine based on the SARS-CoV-2 S gene. When tested in monkeys, this vaccine candidate produced antibodies, which help fight the virus. A phase I clinical trial will soon begin in Wuhan with 108 healthy volunteers between 18 and 60 years old, in which three different doses will be tested.
The goal of a phase I trial is to check the safety of the vaccine at different doses, evaluating any side effects. If a drug is proven to be safe, it may then be moved into a phase II trial, in which the drug is administered to people to see if it works.
Other proposals are being promoted by CEPI, an international association in which public, private, civil and philanthropic organizations collaborate to develop vaccines against future epidemics. It is currently funding eight coronavirus vaccine projects that include recombinant, protein, and nucleic acid vaccines (all are in the preclinical phase unless otherwise noted):
Recombinant measles virus vaccine (Pasteur Institute, Themis Bioscience and University of Pittsburg) - Adds a SARS-CoV-2 gene to a non-virulent measles virus to induce a protective response.
Recombinant influenza virus vaccine (University of Hong Kong) - Adds a SARS-CoV-2 gene to a non-virulent strain of the flu, which could be administered intranasally and work dually as a flu vaccine.
Recombinant vaccine using the Oxford chimpanzee adenovirus, ChAdOx1 (Jenner Institute, University of Oxford) - Models of this vaccine type have been tested against MERS, influenza, chikungunya and other pathogens such as malaria and tuberculosis, and can be manufactured in large scale in bird embryo cell lines.
Recombinant protein vaccine (Novavax) - This vaccine relies on nanoparticle technology, a proprietary technology that Novavax has already employed to manufacture several well-tolerated vaccines that stimulate a powerful and long-lasting non-specific immune response that prevents respiratory infections like adult flu, SARS and MERS.
A computer model showing the protein structure of a potential COVID-19 vaccine at Novavax labs in Rockville, Maryland, March 20, 2020.
Recombinant protein vaccine (University of Queensland) - This vaccine relies on the creation of chimeric molecules capable of maintaining the original three-dimensional structure of the viral antigen. They use the technique called “molecular clamp,” which allows vaccines to be produced using the virus genome in record time. It is in the preclinical phase.
Vaccine mRNA-1273 (Moderna) made up of a small fragment of messenger RNA with the instructions to synthesize part of the SARS-Co-V protein S. The idea is that once introduced into our cells, they would make this protein, which would then act as an antigen and stimulate the production of antibodies. It is already in the clinical phase and it has begun to be tested in healthy volunteers.
Messenger RNA vaccine (CureVac) - This is similar to the Moderna proposal, with recombinant messenger RNA molecules that are easily recognized by the cellular machinery and produce large amounts of antigen. They are packaged in lipid nanoparticles or other vectors.
DNA INO-4800 vaccine (Inovio Pharmaceuticals) - Inovio manufactures synthetic vaccines using DNA of the S gene that is present in the surface of the coronavirus. Clinical tests of a similar prototype vaccine against MERS, called the INO-4700 vaccine, found that the drug was well tolerated and produced a good immune response (high antibody levels and good T-cell response, maintained for at least 60 weeks after vaccination).
Finally, two Spanish researchers, Luis Enjuanes and Isabel Sola, have just received express funding from the Spanish government to develop a live attenuated coronavirus vaccine that would create an altered copy of the virus that is incapable of producing the disease but that serves to activate our defenses.
The takeaway
There is still no approved antiviral or specific SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. All of these antiviral and vaccine proposals are in the experimental phase. Some will not work, but the chances of finding one that will are high.
The WHO’s new international consortium, called Solidarity, seeks effective treatment for COVID-19. At the moment, Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, France, Iran, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand are participating, and it is expected that ever more nations will join in this great global clinical trial project.
Photo: Coroniavirus Research (Mongkolchon Akesin / Shutterstock)
China and the United States should "unite to fight" the deadly coronavirus pandemic, President Xi Jinping said in a call with Donald Trump on Friday, as he called for the US to improve relations.
The two countries have clashed in recent weeks over the virus, and Chinese state media said Xi told Trump he hoped the "US will take substantive actions to improve Sino-US relations."
He also called for the two countries to work together to tackle the virus and said Beijing "wishes to continue sharing all information and experience with the US", according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Trump sounded a positive tone, tweeting that he had a "very good conversation" with Xi, and that both leaders discussed the pandemic "in great detail".
"China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the virus. We are working closely together. Much respect," he wrote.
Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo angered Beijing this month by repeatedly referring to "the Chinese virus" when discussing the COVID-19 outbreak first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Trump has since dropped the term amid accusations of racism, in another small sign of easing tensions between the two world powers.
Earlier this month a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing also suggested in a tweet that the US military brought the virus to Wuhan.
This prompted Trump to accuse China of spreading misinformation, and the US president repeatedly attacked China's lack of transparency and the slowness of its initial response to the outbreak.
Xi said Sino-US relations were at a "critical juncture", CCTV reported, adding that cooperation was mutually beneficial and "the only right choice."
Friday's call also took place as the US overtook China as the country with the most confirmed coronavirus cases -- the pathogen has now infected more than 82,400 people in the world's largest economy.
During the call, Xi said China had shared information about the epidemic with the World Health Organization and other countries including the US in a "timely" manner throughout.
"Infectious diseases are the common enemy of mankind, and do not recognise borders or races," said Xi.
Some provinces, cities and companies in China have provided medical supplies and support to the US as well, Xi added.
At an emergency videoconference chaired by Saudi Arabia Thursday -- which both Xi and Trump joined -- G20 nations pledged a "united front" in the fight against the coronavirus.
The group said they would inject $5 trillion into the global economy to counter the pandemic amid forecasts of a deep recession.
Athletes who had already qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before they were postponed will keep their places when the showpiece takes place in 2021, sources told AFP on Thursday.
Around 57% of the 11,000 scheduled participants for Tokyo had already made sure of taking part when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) pushed the Games back to 2021 due to the coronavirus on Tuesday.
The IOC and 32 international sports federations held a teleconference on Thursday where it was decided to respect the qualification process.
"Thomas Bach (the IOC President) first explained the reasons for the postponement of the Games, then said that the athletes qualified for Tokyo 2020 would automatically be qualified for 2021," one of the participants in the conference told AFP.
"One of the main subjects was to know when and how to organise the qualifications.
"In some federations, many sportsmen and sportswomen are not qualified and it takes at least three months for the Olympic Games to organise them."
The 2020 Tokyo Games were scheduled for July 24-August 9, but after telephone discussions between Bach and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a historic joint decision was taken for the first postponement of an Olympics in peacetime
However, there is no definite date yet for the rescheduled Games with Bach saying Tuesday the Tokyo Olympics "must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community".
Many Olympic sports, such as boxing, saw the vast majority of their qualifying tournaments either interrupted or cancelled due to the global health situation.
Others, such as sailing however, already had 90% of their competitors qualified.
"The allocated quotas remain allocated," confirmed another participant in Thursday's meeting.
"Thomas Bach has confirmed that a decision (on a new date for the 2021 event) will be made within the next four weeks," he said.
"Some said they prefer May 2021, others June ..."
Some federation chiefs also expressed financial concerns, claiming in advance part of the sums traditionally allocated after the Olympic Games by the IOC to the governing bodies.
Singaporeans could be jailed for up to six months if they intentionally stand close to someone else, under tough new rules announced Friday to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
The city-state has introduced a series of new measures to tackle the virus, including closing bars and cinemas as well as banning large events.
One step aimed at ensuring "social-distancing" -- a key approach being used worldwide to halt the spread of the contagious disease -- is a ban on individuals standing less than one metre (three feet) apart in certain settings.
People are barred from intentionally standing too close to someone else in a queue, or sitting on a seat less than one meter from another individual in a public place, according to the regulations.
Those found guilty of breaking the rules face a jail term of up to six months and a maximum fine of Sg$10,000 (US$7,000).
Business owners are also required to take steps such as putting seats not fixed to the ground at least one metre apart, and making sure that people keep their distance when queueing.
They face the same punishments if found to have broken the rules.
Singapore, known for having a low crime rate and a tough approach to law and order, introduced stricter curbs after a spike in infections being brought in from overseas.
The health ministry said earlier this week that "we must implement tighter safe distancing measures now to minimise activities and exposure".
The city-state has reported 683 virus infections and two deaths, but has won praise for its approach and has so far avoided going into a total lockdown.
The rapidly spreading pandemic has infected over half a million people worldwide and killed more than 23,000.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro decreed Thursday that places of worship are "essential services" that must be exempted from coronavirus confinement orders, the far-right leader's latest jab at aggressive containment measures.
The decree, published in the government diary, adds "religious activities of any kind" to the list of exempted services, alongside supermarkets and pharmacies.
It adds that such activities must be carried out "in accordance with health ministry guidelines."
Bolsonaro, who was elected in 2018 with the backing of Brazil's burgeoning evangelical Christian community, has clashed with local authorities who have closed schools and businesses in places such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in a bid to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
The president, who has called the reaction to the pandemic "overblown," says such measures are unnecessary and will wreck Latin America's biggest economy.
Most places of worship in Brazil have already suspended services because of the outbreak, often broadcasting them online instead.
However, some prominent religious leaders have refused.
Asked if the coronavirus in Brazil could reach the same level of infection as in the United States, Bolsonaro said he didn't "believe it will reach that point."
Brazilians, he said, "don't catch anything. You see a guy jumping over sewer water there, he goes out, he falls in... and nothing happens to him."
"Moreover I believe that many people are already infected (with the coronavirus) in Brazil, weeks or months ago -- they already have antibodies that help it to not proliferate," Bolsonaro said, speaking to reporters outside the presidential residence in Brasilia.
Last week, the influential evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia, a Bolsonaro ally, called confinement measures "a tactic by Satan."
"My friends, do not worry about coronavirus. It is just another tactic by Satan. Satan works with fear," he said.
Malafaia changed course Friday and suspended his churches' services. But he insisted that was because of official restrictions on public transportation, and said the doors would remain open for worshippers.
Asian equities rallied again and the dollar extended losses Friday, with traders buoyed by government and central bank pledges to prop up the global economy as the coronavirus sends countries into lockdown.
Despite the painful toll the disease is inflicting on lives and economies, markets are on course to end the week with healthy gains following a barrage of stimulus and monetary easing.
While the number of people contracting COVID-19 continues to escalate -- the US now has more cases than China and Italy -- the support measures, which the G20 said amounted to $5 trillion, have given traders hope that the expected recession will be sharp but short.
Even news that a record 3.3 million Americans claimed unemployment for the first time last week -- smashing the previous all-time high of 695,000 set in 1982 -- was unable to derail a rally in New York with the Dow and S&P 500 up more than six percent.
The S&P 500 has now recorded its quickest three-day advance in nine decades, according to Bloomberg News.
And Dan Skelly at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management said stocks, which have been clobbered in recent weeks, were showing signs of forming a bottom.
"While we do believe this will be possibly the sharpest recession in history, it may also be the shortest, so there is room to be optimistic for a second-half rebound," he told Bloomberg TV.
The advance in Wall Street extended into Asia, where Tokyo went into the break 1.2 percent higher, while Hong Kong, Seoul, Wellington and Taipei also rose more than one percent.
Singapore jumped 2.5 percent, Manila more than three percent and Jakarta almost seven percent. Sydney, however, fell two percent.
Support has come from a $2 trillion stimulus bill that is making its way through Congress and is expected to be passed by the House of Representatives Friday before being signed off by Donald Trump.
'Massive positive'
"For investors, this package should be good for US equities and other risk assets as it should leave US corporations in a better position to weather the economic downturn and thrive in the rebound," said David Kelly, at JP Morgan Asset Management.
Also on Thursday, Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said the US central bank would continue to "aggressively" pump liquidity into the economy.
"When it comes to this lending, we're not going to run out of ammunition. That doesn't happen," Powell said on NBC.
AxiCorp analyst Stephen Innes said: "The Fed's bazookas appear to be filtering through, and that's a massive positive the market is running with."
However, he warned: "It's impossible to gauge the ultimate economic impact or the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic for weeks, possibly months, and until that point, the sustainability of any rally in stocks is questionable."
The Fed's promise to effectively print cash has sent the dollar tumbling this week and it continued to fall across the board Friday, with higher-yielding, riskier units enjoying some respite.
The Mexican peso jumped more than three percent, while the South Korean won was more than one percent higher. Australia's and New Zealand's dollars were each up around two percent.
Oil enjoyed an upturn after taking another severe hit on Thursday from ongoing worries about the impact of the virus on demand as well as the price war between major producers Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Adding to crude market weakness was a warning from the head of the International Energy Agency that consumption could drop by 20 million barrels a day.
Also, industry consultant IHS Markit warned that current output levels cannot be sustained throughout the second quarter because storage capacity will fill up.
"Production is going to have to be reduced or even shut in. It is now a matter of where and by how much," said Jim Burkhard, vice president and head of oil markets at IHS Markit.
- Key figures around 0230 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 18,895.30 (break)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 1.1 percent at 23,614.09
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 2,787.36
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1044 from $1.1031 at 2150 GMT
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 108.40 yen from 109.44 yen
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2216 from $1.2204
Euro/pound: UP at 90.40 pence from 90.39 pence
Brent North Sea crude: UP 2.1 percent at $26.90 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.8 percent at $23.23 per barrel
New York - Dow: UP 6.4 percent at 22,552.17 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 2.2 percent at 5,815.73 (close)
The postponement of the 2020 Olympics delivers a short-term blow to US broadcasting giant NBC but the network is unlikely to suffer lasting damage from the bombshell decision, analysts say.
The global coronavirus pandemic forced the International Olympic Committee and Japanese government to call off the July 24-August 9 games on Tuesday, a move never before seen in peacetime in the Olympics' 124-year history.
While the decision was welcomed by increasingly anxious athletes and sports federations who had lobbied for a postponement, it handed a giant headache to the IOC's long-term broadcast partners NBC.
NBC, which has aired the Olympics since 1988, paid the IOC a gargantuan $7.75 billion for broadcast rights to the Olympics in 2014, a deal which runs through to the conclusion of the 2032 Summer Games.
The Summer and Winter Olympics coverage are cornerstones of NBC's sports content strategy, delivering a money-spinning, blockbuster event for the network every two years.
Patrick Crakes, a media consultant and former Fox Sports executive, says retooling preparations to cover the Tokyo Olympics in a year's time are difficult but not insurmountable.
"I can't think of a bigger organizational mess," Crakes told AFP. "But on the upside I think they'll figure it out.
"It's just such a massive undertaking. The Olympics are a strategic investment for Comcast/NBC Universal. The entire organization is oriented every two years towards producing, promoting and executing an audiovisual telecast for the Olympics. Now you've got to redo everything.
"All that infrastructure stuff -- the support, the crews, the teams both onsite and in the United States -- you've got to redo all that. Usually you get a couple of years to do all that. Now you've got to redo it in 12 months.
"So they're going to incur costs with that. Not everything's going to be available like it was, there will be some kind of new problem, so they'll have to juggle things."
Advertising bonanza
Brian Roberts, the chairman and chief executive of NBC Universal's parent company Comcast, said before the postponement the company would be able to cope if the Olympics did not take place in 2020.
"There should be no losses should there not be an Olympics. It just wouldn't be a profit this year," Roberts told a conference in San Francisco on March 3.
NBC Universal banked $250 million in profit from its Rio Olympics coverage after generating $1.2 billion in advertising sales. The company had already sold $1.25 billion worth of commercials for the 2020 Games.
The company was also banking on the Olympics to drive enthusiasm for its new streaming service, Peacock, due to be launched in the United States on July 15.
"NBC is losing that promotional window for Peacock and also for its new fall season programming," Jon Swallen, chief research officer for Kantar Media, told the Los Angeles Times. "It's a blow in the short term because that July-through-August period is typically soft for advertising. Every four years when the Summer Olympics come around, it's a huge windfall for NBCU."
Crakes, though, believes any losses will be recovered in the long term.
"The distributors, NBC, the Olympics -- they are all married together in a three-way value chain that is long term," he said.
"While everyone's got to look out for themselves they have a real serious incentive to cooperate and try and figure out how to do the best and make everybody whole in the short term.
"Because they're going to redo the Olympics next year. They're still going to be there...so they're going to get hurt by this, but I think they'll find a way to claw back a lot of this somehow. Not all of it. But they'll claw it back.
One potential silver lining of the postponement could be an ever greater sense of anticipation surrounding the Olympics as the world emerges from the seismic upheaval of the coronavirus pandemic.
"The Olympics next year could be a celebration of the world beating its oldest enemies -- micro-organisms," Crakes told AFP.
"When sport does get back up and running there's going to be a lot of people very happy about it. Because it signals a return to normalcy.
"And sports television is probably the most human of all art forms, because it's human beings struggling in the moment. The Olympics are the ultimate celebration of sport."
Jay Rosenstein, a former vice president of programming at CBS Sports, agreed.
"I don't have a crystal ball, but after all of this audiences may be looking forward to the world coming together next year," Rosenstein told CNN.
The Tokyo Olympics and Euro 2020 have both fallen victim to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic with global sports coming to a complete standstill.
Here, AFP Sport looks at the events impacted by the virus which had killed more than 23,000 people around the world at 1900GMT Thursday.
TOKYO OLYMPICS
-- The International Olympic Committee issued a joint statement with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzu Abe on Tuesday postponing the Tokyo Games until next year. Only two days earlier, IOC president Thomas Bach insisted time was on his side as he gave himself up to four weeks to reach a decision.
He speedily bowed to growing pressure from critics within and beyond the sporting world as the coronavirus death toll mounted.
"In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO (World Health Organisation) today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community," said the statement.
FOOTBALL
Internationals
-- Euro 2020, scheduled to take place in 12 European cities from June 12 to July 12 has been put off until 2021. In a knock-on effect, the women's Euro scheduled for July 7 to August 1, 2021, will be postponed along with the Nations League final stages.
-- The Copa America has been moved from June 12-July 12 2020 in Argentina and Colombia to summer 2021.
Clubs
-- UEFA has postponed the Champions League, Europa League and women's Champions League finals, originally scheduled for May but has given no new dates.
-- In Italy, where more than 8,000 people have died, all matches -- as well as all major sports events -- have been suspended officially until at least April 3 although administrators say they are not expecting a resumption before May 2.
-- The English Premier League has been suspended until April 30.
-- In Germany, the Bundesliga is on hold until April 2.
-- In Spain, all professional football has been suspended indefinitely.
-- In France, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 and women's football have been suspended indefinitely.
-- Outside Europe, most top leagues have been affected, with the start of the J-League delayed, Major League Soccer in the United States and China's top-flight Super League put on hold.
RUGBY UNION
-- The Six Nations tournament was disrupted with four matches, including all of the final-round games scheduled to be played in March, put back until October.
-- France's Top 14, the English Premiership and the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby are all suspended while the European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup semi-finals and finals have been postponed. The finals of the two competitions were due to have been played on the weekend of May 22/23 in the French city of Marseille.
MOTOR RACING
-- The first eight races of the Formula One season have been either scrapped or postponed with the season opener now put back until at least June 14 with the Canada Grand Prix in Montreal.
-- US autoracing's famed Indianapolis 500 was moved from May 24 to August 23.
-- In motorcycling, the first five rounds of the world championships have now been postponed after the Spanish Moto GP scheduled for May 3 was postponed. The season is now due to open with the French Grand Prix at Le Mans on May 17.
GOLF
-- The Masters (April 9-12) and the PGA Championship (May 14-17) have been put back to unspecified dates while the USPGA Tour is effectively suspended until May 17. The US LPGA Tour is on hold until May 3.
-- The European Tour has put events on hold until May 24.
CRICKET
-- All major international cricket series cancelled, including England's tour of Sri Lanka, New Zealand's final two ODIs and three T20s in Australia as well as the last two one-day internationals between India and South Africa.
-- The start of India's IPL, originally scheduled for March 29, was delayed until at least April 15.
-- A swathe of qualifiers due to take place before July for the Twenty20 World Cup and the 2023 50-over World Cup postponed Thursday.
CYCLING
-- The International Cycling Union has suspended all top cycling activity until at least the end of April.
One day races and one week tours in Italy, France Spain, Switzerland and Belgium including Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo classic were eye-catching postponements. But the three week Giro d'Italia in May is the biggest victim. After the postponemet of the Olympic Games however, there is hope that most of the events can now be rescheduled, with a Giro in October.
TENNIS
-- The French Open has been postponed from its May 24-June 7 slot to September 20-October 4 while the men's ATP and women's WTA Tours have been suspended until June 7, with rankings frozen.
-- The finals of the Fed Cup, scheduled for Budapest from April 14-19, postponed indefinitely.
-- Wimbledon to hold emergency meeting next week with postponement or cancellation of the June 29-July 12 tournament on the cards.
BASKETBALL
-- The NBA has been on hold indefinitely since March 11 for an initial period of one month.
ATHLETICS
-- The World Indoor Championships, scheduled for Nanjing from March 13-15, were postponed for a year.
-- Boston Marathon moved from April 20 to September 14.
-- London Marathon switched from April 26 to October 4.
ICE HOCKEY
-- The National Hockey League (NHL) halted on March 12, three weeks before the end of the regular season.
-- International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships scheduled for Switzerland in May cancelled.
ALPINE SKIING
-- The final races of the men's Alpine skiing World Cup season at Kranjska Gora were scrapped in March while the final three races of the women's season in Are, Sweden, were also cancelled, after the original season-closing World Cup Finals in Cortina d'Ampezzo had already been scrapped.
AFL
-- Aussie Rules, Australia's biggest spectator sport, suspended its season on Sunday until at least May 31 after the first matches of the season were played in empty stadiums.
The United States on Thursday took the grim title of the country with the most coronavirus infections and reported a record surge in unemployment as world leaders vowed $5 trillion to stave off global economic collapse.
More than 500,000 people around the world have now contracted the new coronavirus, overwhelming healthcare systems even in wealthy nations and triggering an avalanche of government-ordered lockdowns that have disrupted life for billions.
In the United States, more than 82,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19, edging out Italy, which has reported the most deaths, and China, where the virus was first detected in December in the metropolis of Wuhan.
With fears mounting of a global recession if not depression, leaders from the Group of 20 major economies held crisis talks by video link Thursday, pledging a "united front" to fight the outbreak -- along with an enormous financial injection.
"The virus respects no borders," the leaders said in a statement.
"We are injecting over $5 trillion into the global economy, as part of targeted fiscal policy, economic measures, and guarantee schemes to counteract the social, economic and financial impacts of the pandemic."
They also pledged "robust" support for developing nations, where coronavirus could next take hold after ravaging China and then Europe.
But the unity pledged by the G20 has been in short supply with China and the United States trading barbs over their handling of the coronavirus crisis.
And Italy as well as Spain, which has the second-highest death toll, objected to a draft economic plan by the European Union which they saw as too weak.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wants a "strong and sufficient" financial response that deploys "innovative financial instruments truly adapted to a war," his office said.
Record one-day toll in France
Alarmed by the rapid spread of the sickness in Italy, France has taken aggressive action to stem the virus and went under lockdown on March 17.
But the 365 deaths reported Thursday was its highest in a one-day period and, alarmingly, included a 16-year-old girl -- a rare case of a young person succumbing to a virus that has devastated the elderly.
"It is very difficult to estimate when the peak will come," French health official Jerome Salomon said. "People who are ill now were infected before the confinement began."
"Now there is less contact, people are going out less and get infected less. So we hope there will be fewer people getting sick next week and fewer people going to hospital," he told reporters.
With hospitals under severe strain, medical workers in Italy and Spain are making painstaking choices.
"If I've got five patients and only one bed, I have to choose who gets it," Sara Chinchilla, a pediatrician at a hospital near Madrid, told AFP.
"People are dying who could be saved but there's no space in intensive care."
In Britain, the National Health Service said London's hospitals are facing a "continuous tsunami" of seriously ill COVID-19 patients, despite a lockdown imposed this week.
And in New York, the virus hotbed in the United States, authorities hope to stem the growth of infections as the city needs to more than double the number of available hospital beds.
"Almost any scenario that is realistic will overwhelm the capacity of the current healthcare system," Governor Andrew Cuomo warned.
Economic devastation
The pandemic has already, and rapidly, been catastrophic to the global economy.
In the United States, the world's largest economy, the Labor Department reported that 3.3 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week -- by far the highest number ever recorded.
Job losses have swept across sectors from food services to retail to transportation as nearly half of the country has closed to "non-essential" businesses.
"It is staggering. We are only seeing the initial numbers; they will get worse, unfortunately," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters, estimating that half a million people in the city would lose work.
But Wall Street soared for a third straight day, recouping more of this month's hefty losses, on expectations for the largest stimulus in US history.
The Senate early Thursday unanimously passed a $2 trillion package that will provide cash payouts averaging $3,400 for a family of four.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi voiced confidence that the House of Representatives would follow suit on Friday.
President Donald Trump, who has been hoping that a strong economy would win him re-election in November, has been one of the few US leaders to seek a quick return to normal.
Priests at risk
The global lockdown -- which also hemmed in India's huge population this week -- tightened further on Thursday as Russia announced it was grounding all international flights, while Moscow's mayor ordered the closure of cafes, shops and parks.
Tokyo's millions of citizens have been told to stay home, too, just days after the city was forced to postpone the 2020 Olympic Games for a year.
China said it was barring entry to most foreigners, fearing that imported cases were undermining its success in bringing domestic transmissions way down.
And South Africa braced for a nationwide lockdown as its cases climbed to more than 900 -- about a third of Africa's 2,975 cases.
The impact of the virus has stretched well beyond frontline health workers, with billions trapped in their homes and facing what experts say could be lasting psychological harm.
In virus-stricken Italy, clergy members have been among the worst affected. Out of Italy's more than 7,500 deaths, 67 have been priests.
But offering a glimmer of hope, both Italy and Spain have seen lower daily rates of new infections this week.
The World Health Organization called Italy's numbers "encouraging signs" but warned it was "still too early to say whether the pandemic is peaking."
A study from Britain's Imperial College provided a grim prediction, saying 1.8 million people could die worldwide this year even with swift action to halt the virus.
Congratulations America
With the United States now leading the world, the hashtag #CongratulationsAmerica trended on Twitter. Here's some of what people were saying:
Cuba hit out at the United States on Thursday over a "campaign of discredit and lies" against the doctors it has sent around the world to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Following requests in recent weeks, communist Cuba has sent medical teams to Italy, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Grenada, Suriname, Jamaica and Belize.
The export of medical services is one of the pillars of the Cuban economy that has suffered almost six decades of crippling US sanctions, bringing in $6.3 billion in 2018, according to official figures.
"The American government's campaign of discredit is immoral in any circumstances, and it's particularly offensive for Cuba and the world in times of a pandemic that threatens all of us," said the foreign ministry.
The US State Department is waging "a continuous and exacerbated campaign of discredit and lies against the international medical cooperation supplied by Cuba," the ministry said in a diplomatic protest statement.
"#Cuba offers its international medical missions to those afflicted with #COVID-19 only to make up the money it lost when countries stopped participating in the abusive program," said the State Department on Twitter.
Cuba, which is world renown for its medical training program, has more than 30,000 doctors working in 61 countries.
However, following governmental swings from leftist allies to right-wing opponents, several countries -- including Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and El Salvador -- sent the doctors home to Cuba.
The State Department said the Cuban state, which provides free education, "keeps most of the salary its doctors and nurses earn while serving in its international medical missions while exposing them to egregious labor conditions."
"Host countries seeking Cuba's help for #COVID-19 should scrutinize agreements and end labor abuses."
Cuba says it pays its medical professionals enough money to cover their expenses in their host country, on top of a salary of around $50 a month paid in Cuba.
The rest of the money made from the program helps ensure health and education remain free for everyone on the Caribbean island nation, Havana says.
Photo: Woman Wearing a Face Mask Against Coronavirus (Yamil LAGE AFP)
An overwhelmed Italian city at the heart of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday sent more of its dead to nearby towns for cremation as the country's world-leading toll topped 8,000.
Officials in Rome reported 662 new deaths and 6,153 infections -- largely in line with the figures reported throughout the week.
The rise in daily deaths edged down to the lowest point in the crisis -- 8.8 percent -- while the infection rate stood at around eight percent for the fourth day running.
But the numbers are not dropping much further and Italians appear to be coming to terms with the realisation that two weeks of life under lockdown have not made the disease go away.
"Until we see this damn rate drop, we will have to continue making very hard sacrifices," deputy civil protection service chief Agostino Miozzo said in reference to the ever-tightening containment measures.
Italy's coronavirus death toll now stands at 8,165 -- more than that of second-placed Spain and China, where the virus emerged in December, combined.
- 'Crematoriums could not cope' -
The endless flood of victims forced the city of Bergamo at Italy's northern epicentre of the pandemic to send still more bodies to less burdened crematoriums in neighbouring towns.
An AFP photographer saw six camouflage green army trucks transporting coffins out of a Bergamo cemetery on Thursday.
"The large number of victims has meant that Bergamo's crematorium could not cope on its own," mayor Giorgio Gori said in a statement released to AFP.
AFP / Piero CRUCIATTI A single red rose rested atop a coffin at a warehouse in the commune of Ponte San Pietro on Bergamo's western outskirts
The mayor said the city had also received 113 urns with the ashes of bodies that had been sent out for cremation earlier this week.
The bodies in the city of about 120,000 people are literally piling up.
A warehouse in the commune of Ponte San Pietro on Bergamo's western outskirts held 35 freshly-made wooden coffins Thursday that were destined for cremation at a later date.
Still more coffins filled a barren church hall in the Seriate commune to Bergamo's east.
A priest said a quiet prayer over the rows of coffins and a single red rose rested atop one in the otherwise empty room.
- Anxious south -
Yet the Italian government is just as anxious about the northern crisis spilling over into the far less developed south.
The head of the Campania region that includes Naples warned of a "dramatic explosion" of infections based on this week's trends.
"The next 10 days will be hell for us," governor Vincenzo De Luca said in an open letter to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
The number of officially registered deaths in Campania -- Italy's third-most-populous with nearly six million people -- rose from 29 on Sunday to 83 on Thursday.
But no southern region has recorded more than 100 coronavirus fatalities to date.
AFP / Piero CRUCIATTI A priest says a quiet prayer over the rows of coffins at the warehouse on Bergamo's outskirts
Italy's latest figures confirm that COVID-19 overwhelmingly kills the elderly and the sick.
Data from Italy's first 5,542 fatalities show that 98.6 percent of the victims already suffered from at least one ailment or pre-existing condition.
Slightly over half had three or more other health problems when they died.
Only 29.1 percent of the victims were women. The disparity has been observed elsewhere and still puzzles doctors around the world.
The average age of victims was 78 -- a fraction lower than the 78.8 reported last week based on the first 3,200 deaths.
But Italian virologist Roberto Burioni said the figures were "not particularly reliable" because the country was primarily testing people who already exhibited flu-like symptoms.
Italy's death rate among the confirmed COVID-19 cases -- 10.1 percent -- was thus much higher than in countries with broad-based testing such as South Korea.
The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe could hit 1.8 million worldwide this year even with swift and stringent measures to stop it, according to a study from Britain's Imperial College published Thursday.
Researchers estimate that tens of millions of lives could be saved if governments act fast to adopt strict public health measures, including testing, quarantining and broad social distancing.
The latest report from Imperial College London, whose previous research spurred the British government to ramp up its efforts to curb the virus, comes as an AFP toll based on country data and World Health Organisation figures showed global infections topping 500,000, including more than 22,000 deaths.
The Imperial College modelling simulations are based on current data about the severity of the virus -- its contagiousness and estimated mortality rate -- as well as demographic and societal factors.
In a sobering projection of what could have happened with no interventions at all, the study said that if left unchecked COVID-19 could have infected almost everyone on the planet this year and killed 40 million people.
The report then looks at different levels of response, from spontaneous social distancing to the tough lock down measures currently imposed in some worst-affected countries, and projects the potential health impacts across 202 countries.
With strict containment measures imposed early enough -- resulting in a rate of deaths of 0.2 per 100,000 of population per week -- the modelling shows a death toll of 1.86 million people, with nearly 470 million infected this year.
If the same measures were taken later -- leading to 1.6 deaths per 100,000 of population per week -- the estimated toll rises sharply to 10.45 million deaths and 2.4 billion people infected.
"Our analysis highlights the challenging decisions faced by all governments in the coming weeks and months, but demonstrates the extent to which rapid, decisive and collective action now could save millions of lives," the authors said.
Estimates of mortality levels and healthcare demand were based on data from China and high-income countries, the report said, adding that variances in health systems could result in different patterns in low income countries.
They stressed that the modelling mapped out "possible trajectories" for the pandemic and containment strategies, based on countries that have been affected early in the pandemic.
"However, at the current time, it is not possible to predict with any certainty the exact number of cases for any given country or the precise mortality and disease burden that will result."
The report does not take into account the social and economic costs of the containment measures, "which will be high and may be disproportionately so in lower income settings".
It also warned that "suppression strategies will need to be maintained in some manner until vaccines or effective treatments become available to avoid the risk of later epidemics".
AFP / Piero CRUCIATTI 
AFP / Piero CRUCIATTI