 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch, where we bring you some of the major news developments from across the world. Our headlines COVID-19 Fatality Estimates Soar in the US as Restrictions and East Julian Assange's trial postponed to September due to COVID-19 outbreak Afghanistan reports more polio cases as vaccination comes to a halt amid pandemic Migrant workers are stranded in Kuwait and take out protests demanding repatriation We begin with our daily COVID-19 update. The total number of cases worldwide is at 3.66 million. As of today afternoon, the number of deaths has crossed a quarter of a million while over 1.2 million people have recovered. The US has the highest number of cases at over 1.2 million and close to 70,000 deaths. Despite the high number of infections and deaths, as many as 31 US states have already eased pandemic-related lockdowns or are in the process of it. The easing of physical distancing measures has led to the revision of earlier death estimates. The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation of the University of Washington or IHME had earlier estimated the possibility of between 59,000 to 114,000 deaths in the US by the end of August with a median estimate of over 72,000 deaths. Those numbers have been revised to between 95,000 to 242,000 with a median of around 135,000 deaths. The new estimates are worse than some of the worst-case scenarios from just a month ago. Public health experts from across the US have often warned against early lifting of pandemic-related restrictions on businesses. But business interests and conservatives have prevailed over medical professionals. The US alone contributes to around a third of the global COVID-19 deaths every day. A spike in death rates could in turn affect the global fight against the pandemic. We now go to the Philippines where calls for the release of prisoners are growing in the country after a recent Supreme Court ruling that effectively ordered the release of over 9,700 prisoners. The Archipelago Nation has so far reported 300 cases in its overcrowded prisons. The Philippines holds around 220,000 prisoners in facilities across the country despite a cumulative capacity of 45,000, making it among the most crowded prison systems in the world. Over the past week, the country's Supreme Court ordered lower court release under trial detainees, the elderly, pregnant women and those who have been sentenced for up to six months. But activists say that this is nowhere close to enough. The prison population in the country has almost doubled under the presidency of Roderico Duterte whose campaign against drugs and insurgency has led to one of the most violent periods in post-Funta Philippines and has also lost one of the highest incarceration rates in Asia. We now go to France where trade unions including the General Confederation of Labour have been protesting the lack of basic provisions in medical establishments. Even as France has reported over 169,000 cases and over 25,000 deaths, a lack of basic provisions in supplies has been reported from several frontline medical establishments. The mobilization began in the last week of April by the staff of the Winneshear Psychiatric Hospital against the closure of beds and has been gaining momentum. The CGT, Workers' Force and CFTC unions have denounced the behaviour of the management of the Winneshear Psychiatric Hospital which since the beginning of the quarantine has been closing beds and unions organised protests on April 28th, April 30th and May 1st. Meanwhile, in their press release, the CGT of Lahail Hospital denounced the shortage of linen and clothes which is repercussions on the staff as well as on the patients of the establishment. Earlier, a survey conducted by the Federation of Health and Social Action, a CGT affiliate, revealed that the healthcare workers in France are facing an acute shortage of masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 83.19% of the employees requested during the survey declared that they lacked personal protective equipment. In our infocus section, we look at a video feature on the problems faced by nurses in South Africa who staged a protest on May 1st over the lack of adequate equipment. In our next story, the second hearing in the trial of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was postponed to September this year by a British court on Monday on account of the pandemic. The second round of hearings in the extradition trial for Julian Assange was scheduled for May 18th at the Woolwich Court within the Belmarsh High Security Prison where he is imprisoned. The postponement came after a request from the legal team representing the WikiLeaks founder. The team said that in light of the pandemic, neither Assange nor the prosecution nor the defence would be able to prepare for or even appear for the hearing. Assange's defence team has been trying to have him released on grounds of the pandemic over concerns of his safety behind bars. The Belmarsh prison has already reported one death due to COVID-19 prompting calls for the release of prisoners as per WHO guidelines. The British government, however, has rejected all suggestions so far attracting severe criticism. Assange is being held under judicial remand at Belmarsh while he faces trial over an extradition request from federal prosecutors in the US at the behest of the Trump administration. The Afghan Ministry of Public Health announced on Monday that it has registered 6 new cases of polio in the country. This has taken the total number of cases this year to 11. The registration of fresh cases is linked to the stopping of the regular vaccination due to the coronavirus pandemic. Several countries have reportedly stopped the regulation vaccination due to the shortage of medical staff or health infrastructure after the coronavirus pandemic broke out. The World Health Organization had warned the countries last month to not compromise on the regular vaccination drives. WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom-Gabrielsius has said that we must not risk losing the fight to protect everyone everywhere against the vaccine-preventable diseases, which may come roaring back if we do not vaccinate accordingly. According to TOLO News, there are 10 million children in Afghanistan under the age of 5 who are eligible for vaccination. However, around 2 million of them have not been vaccinated due to the war and conflict in the country. Vaccination is completely stopped since the outbreak of COVID-19 in March. Meanwhile, a report published by Save the Children said that as many as 7 million children in the country will be facing a storm of hunger, disease and death due to the rise in the prices of food during the coronavirus pandemic. Ever since the country-wide lockdown began in war-torn Afghanistan in March, the prices of essential commodities have increased multi-fold. The price of wheat flour and cooking oil has increased by up to 23 percent while the cost of rice, sugar and pulses has increased by between 7 and 12 percent, the study said. And finally, Kuwaiti police yesterday forcefully dispersed a protest carried out by Egyptian migrant workers in one of the state-run shelters. The protest police subsequently arrested several of them. The workers were demanding immediate repatriation. The protesting workers want to return to Egypt as they have been rendered jobless following the coronavirus outbreak. The shelter where they are currently being held is meant for those violating Kuwait's residency laws. Several videos posted on social media showed the Kuwaiti police using tear gas against the protesters. The protesting workers were surrounded by a chain-link fence with barbed wire all around it. Later, officials from the Egyptian embassy went to the shelter and gave assurances to the workers that repatriation flights to Egypt would begin this week. Kuwaiti officials in the past few days have also said that they would suspend fines and jail times for workers in violation of the country's residency laws as well as not charge the workers for the repatriation flight tickets. That's all we have in this episode of the International Daily Roundup. We will be back tomorrow with some of the major news developments of the day. Until then, keep watching People's Dispatch.