This is VOA news. Reporting via remote, I'm David Byrd.
Global coronavirus cases topped one million Thursday as the pandemic explodes in the United States and the death toll continues to climb.
The virus has killed more than 51,000 people globally, with the largest number of deaths in Italy followed by Spain and the United States.
The first 100,000 cases were reported in around 55 days and the first 500,000 in 76 days. Cases doubled to one million within the past eight days.
There are 117 countries and territories that have reported more than 100 cases.
The global fatality rate is now more than five percent of all reported cases, with countries including Britain, the United States and Spain reporting a spike in fatalities over recent days.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he underwent a second coronavirus test using a rapid diagnostic that produced a result in less than 15 minutes. At his daily White House briefing, the president said he had tested negative.
"It took me literally a minute to take it. And it took me, I guess it was 14 or 15 minutes - I went to work, I didn't wait for it - but they said it took 14 minutes or something to come up with the conclusion. And it said the president tested negative for COVID-19."
Trump's physician Sean Conley said in a letter released by the White House the president was tested with a new rapid point-of-contact test and the result came back in 15 minutes. Conley said the president is healthy and without symptoms.
Trump also tested negative last month after coming into contact with a Brazilian official who later tested positive for the coronavirus.
For more on these stories, visit our website voanews.com. This is VOA news.
The number of Americans who filed for unemployed benefits last week set another record. AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports.
It's been a stunning collapse with roughly 90 percent of Americans under stay-at-home orders, 10 million have lost their jobs the past two weeks.
Some economists estimate there could be 10 million more by month's end. There were 6.6 million new unemployment claims last week, doubling the previous weeks total which had already obliterated a decades-old record.
The bleak economic news comes as the nation gets ready for a bigger virus outbreak amid growing evidence people who are infected but show no symptoms can spread it.
Though the vast majority of those with the virus recover, FEMA has asked the Pentagon for 100,000 body bags.
Sagar Meghani, Washington.
The man accused in the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl is likely to walk free in the coming days after a Pakistani court commuted his death sentence. Reuters' Lucy Fielder reports.
Pearl was investigating Islamist militants in Karachi after the September 11 attacks when he was kidnapped in January 2002. A video of his murder emerged weeks later. He was beheaded.
British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was sentenced to death that same year. But the court ruled on Thursday his role in the murder wasn't proven and gave him seven years for the kidnapping.
Sheikh Omar has already spent 18 years in jail awaiting the outcome of an appeal -- so he's likely to walk free in the coming days. Three co-accused were acquitted.
A prosecutor is expected to file a new appeal, but the four men are likely to be released pending the outcome unless a Supreme Court order stops that happening.
That's Reuters' Lucy Fielder reporting.
New Orleans jazz legend Ellis Marsalis Jr. has died after contracting the new coronavirus. AP correspondent Jackie Quinn reports.
Legendary for his piano skills, Ellis Marsalis Jr.'s been described by New Orleans mayor as "the prototype of what we mean when we talk about New Orleans jazz."
The 85-year-old Marsalis was a teacher well-known as a father, the patriarch of a musical clan that features Wynton and Branford Marsalis along with four other sons.
He was featured in a 2003 PBS special after retiring from teaching at the University of New Orleans.
The family says Marsalis died battling pneumonia brought on by the new coronavirus.
He had been performing regularly up until December.
I'm Jackie Quinn.
For more, visit voanews.com. Reporting via remote, I'm David Byrd, VOA news.
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