Health officials in Wuhan, China’s COVID-19 epicenter, revised the death toll from the virus by more than 50 percent Friday.An additional 1,290 deaths were added to the toll by Wuhan’s Epidemic Prevention and Control Center, bringing the total to 3,869 people.The officials also raised the number of cases by 325 for a total of 50,333 cases.Local government authorities said on social media that some cases were “mistakenly reported” or entirely missed.On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the safety and health of Americans would be the top priority in his administration’s move to reopen the country.Trump and his coronavirus team unveiled their plan for a gradual reopening of the country and returning Americans to work. He said some parts of the country are ready to reopen and that at least 29 states will be ready to reopen “very soon.” The decision will be left to state governors and local leaders, he said.His announcement came hours after Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser extended the city’s shutdown by another two weeks, until May 15. She said the measure will remain in place until the number of new cases is consistently down for two weeks.The number of COVID-19 infections caused by the coronavirus continues to grow in the United States with more than 670,000 cases as of Thursday and nearly 35,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).New York state accounts for one-third of the U.S. cases. Health officials say that the coronavirus curve in the U.S. is flattening but that the epidemic is far from over.A sign about stopping the spread of COVID-19 is posted at Los Angeles International Airport on April 16, 2020, in Los Angeles.Some countries in Europe also are making plans for a gradual return of their citizens to normal life, despite the continued rise of confirmed cases and deaths worldwide. German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to allow some schools to reopen beginning May 4, following similar plans in Denmark, Italy, Austria and Spain. Merkel said some stores could reopen next week.The WHO said Thursday it would issue guidelines to countries next week as to how they can ease restrictions that were imposed in response to the pandemic while containing the spread of the deadly virus.But in the countries where the crisis is still growing, governments are forced to implement tougher measures.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday declared a state of emergency for the entire country, extending a partial April 7 state of emergency that covered Tokyo and six other regions. He said the new measure would remain in effect until May 6, with the intent of reducing traffic during the Gold Week holiday season, which begins in late April and extends into early May.In Britain, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, who is standing in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he recuperates from COVID-19, announced Thursday the country’s nationwide lockdown has been extended by at least three weeks.In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country is not yet ready to loosen restrictions. He urged Canadians to be patient, saying they are still “a number of weeks away.”Also Thursday, the White House released the administration’s action plan to support the international effort to fight COVID-19, by fighting the outbreak at its source. The plan includes a comprehensive package of services to support U.S. international partners, which “builds on current, substantial, and long-standing U.S. government global health and humanitarian assistance of over $170 billion abroad over the past 20 years,” according to the White House statement.The announcement comes a day after Trump faced international criticism for suspending funds for the World Health Organization as it is dealing with a major global health crisis.Trump has blamed the organization for failing in its task to inform the world of the threat of the coronavirus pandemic in a timely manner.
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