News in brief

Two more person, an 88-year old man hospitalized at AHEPA hospital in Thessaloniki and a 76-year old man hospitalized at Erythros Stavros in Athens,  died this morning from the coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 123.

2,408 persons have been infected so far in Greece, while 55 patients are in IC Units.

All 177 residents of the small town of Kranidi, southern Greece, where health authorities discovered a cluster of coronavirus infections at a local facility housing refugees have tested negative, according to media reports on Thursday morning.
The tests were conducted on local residents, including police officers, who health authorities believe may have come into contact with 150 confirmed cases at a hostel where the asylum seekers reside.
The results were anxiously awaited to assess the spread of the virus in the local community and the wider region of Ermionida, which has already been placed in quarantine as of Tuesday when the first infections were confirmed.

At least 183,441 people have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University data, with the number of confirmed cases worldwide at more than 2.6 million.
The US accounts for more than 842,000 cases and almost 47,000 deaths.
The UK has more than 134,000 cases and more than 18,000 deaths.

Results on Thursday showed 14 more aboard, all either cooks or those serving food, were infected with the virus, an official in Nagasaki prefecture said. One patient who had been taken to hospital previously was now in a serious condition and on a ventilator, he told a live-streamed news conference.
The Costa Atlantica infections come after the cases on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama two months ago, where more than 700 passengers and crew were found to be infected, although this time only crew members were on board.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres used a video speech marking the 50th Earth Day on Wednesday to confront President Donald Trump and directly link coronavirus with climate change.

While New York is preparing for a possible return of coronavirus even as the battle against the first round continues, President Donald Trump is playing down the possibility that the coronavirus could be worse next fall or winter.
On Wednesday he dismissed medical warnings from experts that COVID-19 could combine with the flu to make a more complicated return to the United States. He refused to entertain notions that COVID-19, which has killed more than 47,000 Americans, could come in waves as previous pandemics have done.
“It’s not going to be what we’ve gone through, in any way, shape or form,» he said.

The EU summit meeting will be held via teleconference on Thursday. The 27 European leaders are expected to agree on using their common budget for the period 2021-27 to help boost growth. They are also expected to approve 500-billion euros in emergency aid that will take effect in June.
There are low expectations however for reaching an agreement on how exactly they will finance the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, as there are still major disagreements within the Union.

And the weather forecast…

Cloudy in Attica today with winds at a speed of 8 on the beaufort scale. The temperature today will not exceed 17 degrees Celsius.