Update: Coronavirus watch on April 9

The U.S. Navy Ship (USNS) Comfort sails toward Pier 90 in New York, the United States, on March 30, 2020. (Jie Fischer/NAPA/Handout via Xinhua)

- JHU: Global confirmed COVID-19 cases surpass 1.5 million

**- Iran continues its week-long downward trend **

- Iraq: 2nd batch of Chinese medical aid arrives

- UN chief defends WHO after Trump's threats

- WHO Europe: it is not time to lower guard or relax measures

BEIJING, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The world is now in a battle against COVID-19, a disease caused by a previously unknown coronavirus that has spread to over 200 countries and regions.

The following are the updates on the contagious disease.

A medical worker transfers the body of a victim who died of COVID-19 at a hospital in New York, the United States, April 6, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

NEW YORK

Global confirmed COVID-19 cases surpassed 1.5 million on Wednesday afternoon local time, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The fresh figure reached 1,500,830 as of 5:15 p.m. (2115 GMT) with 87,706 deaths, the CSSE said.

The United States led the world with 423,135 cases. Spain and Italy followed with 146,690 and 139,422 cases, respectively. Countries with over 100,000 cases also include France and Germany, according to the data compiled by the CSSE.

A volunteer disinfects a street in Tehran, Iran, on March 31, 2020. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua)

CAIRO

The COVID-19 pandemic in Iran continued its week-long downward trend on Wednesday as less than 2,000 new cases were reported. Meanwhile, Turkey's tally of infections with the novel coronavirus was poised to pass 40,000.

Iran reported 1,997 new COVID-19 cases and 121 more deaths from the infectious disease, bringing the tally of infections to 64,586 and the death toll to 3,993.

BAGHDAD

The second batch of Chinese medical aid arrived on Wednesday in Iraq's capital Baghdad as part of China's assistance in confronting the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country.

Jasim al-Falahi, Iraq's deputy health minister, thanked the Chinese government and people for their continued support for the Iraqi government's efforts to contain COVID-19, which he said "has become a global pandemic, and if all the peoples of the Earth do not cooperate, it will not be easily eliminated."

The visitors' entrance to the United Nations headquarters in New York, March 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Jiangang)

UNITED NATIONS

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscored on Wednesday the necessity of the World Health Organization (WHO) during the COVID-19 crisis in the face of a threat by U.S. President Donald Trump to withhold funds for the UN agency.

"The WHO, with thousands of its staff, is on the front lines, supporting member states and their societies, especially the most vulnerable among them, with guidance, training, equipment and concrete life-saving services as they fight the virus," Guterres said in a statement. "It is my belief that the WHO must be supported, as it is absolutely critical to the world's efforts to win the war against COVID-19."

People wearing face masks do shopping at a market in Rome, Italy, April 6, 2020. (Photo by Augusto Casasoli/Xinhua)

COPENHAGEN

The World Health Organization (WHO) regional office for Europe on Wednesday described the continuing fight against COVID-19 in European regions as a "marathon", stressing that it is not time to lower guard and relax measures.

In a video statement to the press in Copenhagen, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr. Hans Kluge called on all Europeans to stay united and vigilante.

"Knowledge of COVID-19 and some positive signs from some countries do not yet represent victory...Now is not the time to relax measures. It is the time to once again double and triple our collective efforts to drive towards suppression with the whole support of society," Kluge said.■