The United States’ death toll from the coronavirus is expected to reach fifty thousand (Reuters) today. The grim milestone comes as the U.S. House of Representatives approved a nearly $500 billion economic aid package (Politico), Congress’s fourth to address the virus’s fallout. 

The U.S. death rate among people with the virus ranks thirty-third (USA Today) among 134 countries tracked by Johns Hopkins University. It ranks twelfth in the world in terms of deaths per one hundred thousand people, and first in terms of total deaths. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) count of more than eight hundred thousand cases in the country is widely believed to be an undercount due to testing shortages; recent antibody testing in New York found as much as 14 percent (The Hill) of the state’s population had been infected at some point. 

Oh Keo-don, the mayor of South Korea’s second-largest city, Busan, resigned (NYT) after acknowledging that his behavior toward a female employee could amount to sexual assault.

While religious leaders across the Muslim world have called for the holy month of Ramadan to be celebrated at home rather than in mosques, many of Pakistan’s most prominent clerics have urged Muslims to leave their homes (Hindu) for prayers.
 
This CFR In Brief looks at how major religions are responding to the coronavirus.
 
Afghanistan: The Taliban rejected (TOLO) Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s call for a cease-fire during Ramadan, citing “hurdles” in a U.S.-brokered peace process.

The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government announced it will extend a unilateral cease-fire (Reuters) in the country by one month. Yemen’s Houthi rebels demanded the coalition lift a blockade (WSJ) in the country’s north before peace talks can resume.
 
Israel: Envoys from the European Union and the United Nations warned the incoming Israeli government (Al Jazeera) not to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. The move would violate an internationally backed two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
 
CFR’s Philip H. Gordon discusses what to expect from Israel’s new coalition government.

Deaths from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa could double this year compared to 2018 due to coronavirus-related disruptions in the distribution of preventive tools and medication, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned.
 
Guinea-Bissau: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) recognized (Al Jazeera) Umaro Sissoco Embalo as president of Guinea-Bissau. Although Embalo’s December 29 election victory is still pending review by the country’s Supreme Court, he declared himself president in February.

Ukraine’s parliament votes today on whether to approve former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as deputy prime minister (FT). Saakashvili was given Ukrainian citizenship in 2015 but was expelled from the country after a falling out with former President Petro Poroshenko.
 
Hungary: The European Court of Justice ruled that Hungarian migrant centers near the country’s border with Serbia are holding asylum seekers in “unlawful detention” (AFP).

The United States pledged a $12.1 million economic aid package (Reuters) to the autonomous Danish territory and said it plans to reopen a consulate there as part of efforts to strengthen ties (State Department) and counter Chinese and Russian military expansion in the Arctic.
 
Mexico: The country’s state petroleum company is seeking to cancel scheduled deliveries of oil from at least one U.S. company, Bloomberg reports. Around eighteen million barrels of oil are idling in sixty vessels off Mexico’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
 
For CFR’s Energy Realpolitik blog, Amy Myers Jaffe discusses what could happen if oil storage runs out.

Of the seventy-two World Trade Organization (WTO) countries that have enacted new export restrictions due to the coronavirus crisis, only thirty-nine submitted information on the measures in line with WTO rules, the organization said in a new report. It warned that supply chain disruptions could hamper the global response to the virus.