Lions are 'king' of the highways as Covid lockdown puts animal kingdom in prime position

AS BILLIONS ISOLATE, CREATURS 'GO WILD' ON STREETS OF WORLD'S CITIES

CORONAVIRUS has put the "wild" back into the animal kingdom now roaming free as billions of people all over the world are isolating in their homes.

A pride of lions are sprawled out across a road usually packed with tourist vans at South Africa's famous Kruger National Park as buffalo walk on a mostly-empty highway in India.

Mountain goats roam the streets of Llandudno in Wales while whales are heading into Mediterranean shipping lanes. Wild boar is inhabiting the streets of Barcelona. Turtles are finally basking in peaceful tranquility.

For eons, humans have pushed wildlife into smaller and smaller corners of Planet Earth but now with city streets empty, nature is pushing back.

It's a certainly a funny old world as Covid-19 calls the tune on the human race.

While the UK still wrestles with providing numbers on care home deaths from coronavirus – France reports another 1,438 more deaths from Covid-19. At least 924 of them were in care homes, bringing the total death toll from the coronavirus outbreak to 17,920.

The French Navy reports 668 infections with "at least" 40 cases of coronavirus were detected following NATO training exercises in Denmark alongside British armed forces.

The US, and President Donald Trump, is still firmly under the cosh as he tries to bat away questions of why the nation has nearly a quarter of the world's 2.145 million deaths despite having just four per cent of the global population.

US deaths stand at 33,903 – with a single day record of 2,371.

More than 9,000 American health-care workers have tested positive for Covid-19, with the 27 deaths – like Britain – being something of an underestimate. There are 2,156 New York City Police Department officers who have tested positive for coronavirus with nearly a fifth off sick.

China continues to have a lot of questions to answer.

It's 3,342 deaths seem woefully light on realism and now it is being accused of a staggering cover-up.

On January 14, China's top health agency told provincial officials they were facing a likely epidemic from a new coronavirus – but the public was not alerted for six days.

Internal documents reportedly show the National Health Commission ordered secret pandemic preparations, even as they downplayed the outbreak on national television.

President Xi Jinping only warned the public on January 20 – and more than 3,000 people had tested positive by then.

Ironically, China is the only major country whose GDP will grow in 2020 as coronavirus continues to shred the global economy, according to International Monetary Fund forecasts.

The country where the deadly pandemic originated is expected to see 1.2 per cent growth this year while the IMF has already warned the world's economy will suffer its worst year since the Great Depression of the 1930s – with the UK's economy shrinking by 6.5 per cent.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab speaking at tonight's coronavirus press briefing said: "We can't have business as usual with China after this."

It comes amid worldwide speculation that the country's coronavirus tolls are false.

The airline grounded its entire fleet at the end of March.

Chief executive Johan Lundgren said he hoped the seating measure would encourage more people to fly.

UK stats reveal 103,093 confirmed cases with 13,729 hospital deaths.

The number of Londoners testing positive is just short of 20,000 now with a combined West and East Midlands showing 12,956 cases.

Warwickshire's case total climbed sharply yesterday from 673 to 742 with neighbouring Leicestershire on 581 and Coventry 459.

The world total of cases is 2.145 million with deaths on 144,062.