<span style="color: #222222;">More than 40,000 people have been killed in the Coronavirus pandemic across the globe, with the US bracing for its darkest hours after its death toll surpassed China's yesterday.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">In a matter of months, the virus has infected more than 800,000 people in a crisis redrawing political powers, hammering the global economy and transforming the daily existence of some 3.6 billion people who have been asked to stay home under lockdowns.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Deaths shot up again across Europe yesterday as Spain, France and Britain reported their deadliest days. While there are hopeful signs that the spread of infections is slowing in hardest-hit Italy and Spain, more than 800 died overnight in both countries.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">France joined it with a surge to 3,525 deaths, an official toll that includes only those who died in hospital and not those who died at home or in old people's homes.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Meanwhile the US which has the highest number of confirmed infections reached a bleak milestone as deaths topped 3,400, ticking past China's official tally of 3,309, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">With more than 175,000 infections in the United States, three-quarters of Americans are now under some form of lockdown.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The staggering economic and political upheaval spurred by the virus is opening new fronts for both cooperation and conflict.  Last week G20 leaders said they were injecting 5 trillion USD into the global economy to head off a feared deep recession.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">In the European Union, however, battle lines have been drawn over the terms of a rescue plan to finance the expected severe economic fallout.  The economic pain of lockdowns is especially acute in the developing world.</span><br />''