BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
- - - -
MADRID -- Spain on Monday reported a sharp fall in the number of new cases of COVID-19 in the latest 24-hour period.
As of 21:00 Sunday local time (1900 GMT), the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Services confirmed just 356 new cases in a 24-hour period, almost 500 less that the 838 new infections confirmed a day earlier, taking the country's caseload to 218,011.
- - - -
LISBON -- Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced on Monday that his country will actively participate in the European Union (EU) initiative of the "Coronavirus Global Response" with a donation of 10 million euros.
At the donors' conference held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, the prime minister said that Portugal will donate 10 million euros (10.9 million U.S. dollars), with 1.55 million euros from the government and 8.45 million euros from private companies and institutions, to the EU program to accelerate the development of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.
- - - -
TOKYO -- The confirmed COVID-19 cases in Japan increased by 176 to 15,253, according to the latest figures from the health ministry and local authorities on Monday.
The number excludes the 712 cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama near Tokyo.
The nationwide death toll from the virus has now reached a total of 569, including 13 from the Diamond Princess.
- - - -
MOSCOW -- Russia has reported 10,581 new confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections rising to 145,268 as of Monday, the country's coronavirus response center said in a statement.
The death toll related to COVID-19 in Russia has increased by 76 to 1,356, while 18,095 people have recovered including 1,456 over the last 24 hours, the statement said.
- - - -
KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia started to restart most of its economic activities on Monday, as new COVID-19 cases in the country dropped after a short spike during the weekend.
Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said at a press briefing that 55 new cases were reported, among which seven were imported cases with the remainder being local transmissions, pushing the total cases in the country to 6,353.
- - - -
BEIJING -- The number of existing confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland has dropped below 500, a record low since Jan. 23, a Chinese health official said Monday.
A total of 481 COVID-19 patients remained hospitalized on the mainland, according to the daily report of the National Health Commission (NHC). Enditem
