That’s it for this live blog for today. We’ve launched a new one at the link below – head over there for all of the latest developments:
A summary of coronavirus news from my US colleagues now:
- Hundreds flock to Florida’s reopened beaches as state death toll hits 726. Some beaches open with distancing restrictions after governor OKs openings ‘in a safe way’.
- Protesters decry stay-at-home orders in Maryland, Texas and Ohio capitals. Rightwing media and Donald Trump have supported demonstrators but they appear to represent a minority opinion.
- Cuomo believes New York may be past the peak, but more than 500 people died yesterday. The New York governor said the net change in total hospitalizations are down over the last three days. More worryingly, there were 2,000 new hospitalizations yesterday.
- Former treasury secretary to George W Bush dies. Paul O’Neill, a former Treasury secretary who broke with George W. Bush over tax policy and then produced a book critical of the administration, died Saturday. He was 84.
- Amy Klobuchar on US response: ‘There was never a national strategy’. The former presidential candidate and sitting Minnesota senator, whose husband caught coronavirus, accused the Trump administration of losing time by not having a national strategy to combat the coronavirus.
Britain has appointed the former Goldman Sachs investment banker who led the country’s 2012 Olympic planning to organise the domestic manufacture of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers treating coronavirus patients.
The government has faced severe criticism from doctors and health workers over shortages of equipment, including masks, visors and gowns, and the suggestion that some items might have to be re-used if supplies run out.
Paul Deighton, who was chief executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, was appointed by Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Sunday.
“He will lead a singular and relentless focus on PPE as the country’s top manufacturing priority, with the full weight of the government behind him,” Hancock said.
Deighton’s unpaid role will be to scale up production domestically, where brands like Barbour and Burberry have already switched factory lines from high-end fashion to PPE.
“Countries around the world face unprecedented demand for personal protective equipment and this necessitates an equally unprecedented domestic manufacturing response,” said Deighton.
UK care home Covid-19 deaths ‘may be five times government estimate’
The number of care home residents who have died from coronavirus could be more than five times the government’s estimate, the sector’s main charity has warned.
Care England, Britain’s largest representative body for care homes, told the Daily Telegraph that up to 7,500 care home residents may have died of the virus.
This is significantly higher than the figure of 1,400 people estimated to have died by the government earlier this week.
Hello, Helen Sullivan with you now and for the next few hours.
A quick reminder that can get in touch with me at any time on Twitter @helenrsullivan – and away we go.
Summary
I’ll be logging off shortly. Here’s some of the key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today:
Spain’s PM to ask for extension of lockdown to 9 May
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday he would ask parliament for a third 15-day extension of the lockdown imposed to curb one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the new coronavirus, taking the restrictions up to 9 May.
Restrictions to be lifted in some US states
US president Donald Trump said on Saturday that Texas and Vermont will allow certain businesses to reopen on Monday while still observing coronavirus-related precautions and Montana will begin lifting restrictions on Friday.
Turkey’s coronavirus cases overtake Iran to become highest in Middle East
Turkey’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 82,329, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday, overtaking neighbouring Iran for the first time to register the highest total in the Middle East.
Morocco has extended its lockdown measures by another month
Morocco will extend lockdown measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus for another month until May 20, the government said on Saturday.
France reports 642 more coronavirus deaths as country’s toll hits 19,323
France registered 642 more deaths from coronavirus infections on Saturday, bringing the total to 19,323, the fourth-highest tally in the world, although the number of people in hospital declined for a fourth day running.
Donald Trump said on Saturday that China should face unspecified consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the coronavirus pandemic.
The US president told reportings at a daily briefing:
If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake. But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, I mean, then sure there should be consequences.
Trump and senior aides have sharply criticised China for a lack of transparency after the coronavirus broke out in its Wuhan province.
Trump on Saturday also continued casting doubt on China’s death toll, which was revised up on Friday.
Restrictions to be lifted in some US states
US president Donald Trump said on Saturday that Texas and Vermont will allow certain businesses to reopen on Monday while still observing coronavirus-related precautions and Montana will begin lifting restrictions on Friday.
“We continue to see a number of positive signs that the virus has passed its peak,” Trump told reporters at a daily briefing.
Some state governors have warned that they will not act prematurely to reopen their economies until there is more testing for the virus, however. Business leaders have also told Trump the country needs to have widespread testing in place before their companies can return to normal operations.
On Saturday, Trump said “our testing is getting better and better,” but offered no concrete evidence.
He said both Republican and Democratic governors “have announced concrete steps to begin a safe and gradual phased opening.” Texas and Vermont “will allow certain business to open on Monday while still requiring appropriate social distancing precautions,” he said.
Several dozen protesters gathered in the Texas capital of Austin on Saturday, chanting “USA! USA!” and “Let us work!”
Updated
British actress Jameela Jamil on Saturday kicked off an eight-hour global event of music, comedy and personal stories aimed at bringing hope and unity during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pop and classical musicians from the North America, Asia and the Middle East, all performing from their homes, appeared on the One World: Together at Home live stream due to run for six hours to pay tribute to frontline workers battling the health crisis around the world.
Jamil, known for her TV series “The Good Place,” told viewers the event was meant to be “a moment of respite.”
“Put your wallets away. This is not a fundraiser. We are just here to give you an incredible show with amazing live performances,” she said.
The livestream’s first hours featured the likes of David Beckham, American R&B singer Jennifer Hudson, Hong Kong singer Eason Chan, India’s Vishal Mishra and Emirati musician Hussain Al Jassmi.
That will be followed by a two-hour concert broadcast on Saturday night across multiple television channels and featuring stars including The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish.
The event, curated by Lady Gaga and organized by WHO and Global Citizen, is the biggest celebrity effort so far to mark the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 people worldwide.
Watch the event here:
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family must wait for another day to find out if her temporary release for a prison in Iran has been extended.
The British-Iranian mother was temporarily released from Evin prison in Tehran in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s furlough was extended by two weeks in late March, and she was scheduled to return to prison on Saturday.
No news for Nazanin and her family today. So another stressful day in limbo, waiting to hear if she'll have to go back to jail. Amnesty International says: “There should be no question of her being sent back to Evin Prison - not in a few weeks’ time, not ever." pic.twitter.com/moWnzF0nto
— Caroline Hawley (@carolinehawley) April 18, 2020
The Free Nazanin Campaign said on Twitter that her family had not yet received a decision on whether or not her furlough is to be extended, and were told to return to the Prosecutors Office in Iran on Sunday.
“Nazanin’s family spoke with the Prosecutors Office today for an update on whether her furlough is to be extended beyond this weekend, or if she will have to return to prison,” the tweet said.
“They were told to come back tomorrow for an answer.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been living in relative isolation at her parents’ house in Tehran while the country gets to grips with the outbreak.
Nazanin's family spoke with the Prosecutors Office today for an update on whether her furlough is to be extended beyond this weekend, or if she will have to return to prison. They were told to come back tomorrow for an answer.
— Free Nazanin (@FreeNazanin) April 18, 2020
She has to wear an ankle tag during the furlough, and can only go within a 300-metre range of her parents’ home.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport while travelling to show her young daughter, Gabriella, to her parents in April 2016.
She was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Tehran government.
She was later afforded diplomatic protection by the UK government, which argues that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.
Twickenham has become the latest major sports stadium in Britain to be given a role in the fight against the coronavirus, reports AFP.
The headquarters of English rugby union, located in south-west London, will host a drive-through coronavirus testing facility that is part of the British government’s nationwide effort to increase testing for thousands more NHS staff and other key workers.
“This new service will help end the uncertainty of whether NHS and social care staff and other key workers need to stay at home, meaning those who test negative will be able to return to work,” said health minister Lord James Bethell.
Spain's PM to ask for extension of lockdown to 9 May
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday he would ask parliament for a third 15-day extension of the lockdown imposed to curb one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the new coronavirus, taking the restrictions up to 9 May.
Sanchez said he wanted to relax restrictions on children, who would be allowed out of their homes after 27 April, though that allowance would be “limited and subject to conditions to avoid contagion”. He did not go into further details.
Spain has begun to ease a strict lockdown imposed on 14 March and this week opened up some sectors of the economy, including manufacturing. But most people are still confined to their houses except for essential outings including shopping for food.
The UK government is arranging a repatriation flight on Wednesday to bring back nationals in Sierra Leone, PA Media reports.
British tourists, short-term visitors and their direct dependents in Sierra Leone will be able to book tickets for the special flight on Wednesday for £600 per person, but only those who are normally resident in the UK will be eligible to travel.
The flight will leave Freetown International Airport at 6.55pm on 22 April, arriving at Stansted Airport in the early hours of 23 April.
Passengers travelling from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, must report to the Sea Coach terminal in the Aberdeen area of the city between 12pm and 3pm on Wednesday.
Some 5,000 people are or have been repatriated from India on 21 previously announced flights operating from 8-20 April.
A church in Bergamo that served as a temporary morgue at the height of Italy’s coronavirus epidemic “is finally empty”, the mayor said Saturday.
La chiesa del cimitero di #Bergamo vuota. Finalmente. pic.twitter.com/ZwDPf9kig3
— Giorgio Gori (@giorgio_gori) April 18, 2020
Where dozens of coffins once stood, nothing but flowers are left to be seen in a photograph tweeted by mayor Giorgio Gori that symbolises the easing of a crisis that has killed over 23,000 people in Italy.
Bergamo is in the wealthy northern region of Lombardy, which accounts for over half Italy’s virus victims.
Italy’s coronavirus emergency czar Domenico Arcuri said Saturday that five times as many people had died in the region during the epidemic than had been killed in Milan during World War II bombings.
“We are living through a great tragedy, which we have not yet overcome,” he said, describing the nearly 12,000 Lombardy dead as an “astounding” figure.
About 20 workers in Afghanistan’s president Ashraf Ghani’s palace have tested positive for the coronavirus, two officials told AFP on Saturday, but so far, there is no indication the president himself has been infected.
“Twenty-odd people are infected with COVID-19 in the presidential palace. However, it is (being) kept under wraps to ensure no panic is caused,” one government official said.
A second official confirmed the number and said an additional 12 people from the president’s administrative office had also contracted the virus.
Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi declined to comment and referred questions to the health ministry, which also would not comment, saying it did not disclose the identity of its patients.
Kabul is currently on a coronavirus lockdown, which authorities recently extended for three weeks, and all government offices are shut.
Afghanistan has officially reported only 933 cases of coronavirus, including 33 deaths.
France registered 642 more deaths from coronavirus infections on Saturday, bringing the total to 19,323, the fourth-highest tally in the world, although the number of people in hospital declined for a fourth day running.
France’s public health authority said in a statement that the total number of people in intensive care units also fell for the 10th day in a row, to 5,833 - the lowest level since March 31.
The figures show that the numbers of infections and deaths remain at a high level but having reached a plateau a week ago the curve is beginning to go noticeably downwards.
Unlike in the UK, deaths in care homes are included in the figures.
France has been in virtual lockdown since March 17 as part of efforts to curb the outbreak.
Updated
Morocco will extend lockdown measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus for another month until May 20, the government said on Saturday.
The decision was made by the government council as the number of confirmed cases rose to 2,685, including 137 deaths and 314 recoveries., Reuters reports.
Lockdown conditions imposed on March 20 mean people are only allowed to go out to buy food or medicine and to staff some key jobs. Morocco has made wearing masks mandatory with those who fail to do so risking jail terms and fines.
Schools, mosques, non-essential shops and entertainment venues have all been closed.
The country has been paying wages to those unable to work and deferred taxes and loans for small businesses to ease the economic pain related to the lockdown measure.
Updated
Turkey’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 82,329, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday, overtaking neighbouring Iran for the first time to register the highest total in the Middle East.
An increase of 3,783 cases in the last 24 hours also pushed Turkey’s confirmed tally within a few hundred of China, where the novel coronavirus first emerged.
Koca said 121 more people have died, taking the death toll to 1,890.
A total of 1,822 people have recovered from coronavirus so far, and the number of tests carried out over the past 24 hours came to 40,520, the minister said.
The interior ministry also said it was extending restrictions on travel between 31 cities for a further 15 days starting at midnight on Saturday.
Summary
Here are the developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today:
Spain coronavirus deaths hit 20,000
The coronavirus death toll in Spain, one of the world’s worst-hit countries by the pandemic, has topped 20,000 after 565 new fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours.
The number of the total dead from Covid-19 in the country hit 20,043 on Saturday. The rise was slightly lower than Friday, when an additional 585 deaths were recorded. The number of overall coronavirus cases rose to 191,726 on Saturday from 188,068 on Friday, the country’s health ministry added.
UK’s Covid-19 hospital death toll surpasses 15,000
In the UK, the official Covid-19 death toll has passed 15,000 – with 888 new fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours. It means as of 5pm on Friday, of those hospitalised in the UK who have tested positive for coronavirus, 15,464 people have died.
Robert Jenrick, the local government secretary, said during the UK’s daily briefing that a significant consignment of PPE is due to arrive from Turkey on Sunday, which will include 400,000 gowns.
Bangladesh garment workers pack streets to demand wages during coronavirus lockdown
Hundreds of workers in Bangladesh have taken to the streets in defiance of physical distancing rules to demand unpaid wages during the Covid-19 shutdown.
The country, which is the world’s second-largest clothing producer after China, is predicted to lose about $6bn (£4.8bn) of export revenues this financial year as retailers and brands across the world cancel orders.
The government sent troops out into the streets to help enforce a shutdown on travel and restrictions on gatherings.
New York daily death toll at two-week low
Deaths in New York State rose by 540 on Friday, the lowest daily death tally since the beginning of April.
Andrew Cuomo, the state’s governor, said new hospital admissions stayed around the 2,000-patient mark, which he said was still an “overwhelming number”.
Meanwhile, Cuomo said “this is no time for division” and that the pandemic was the “greatest challenge since world war two” following an attack on Twitter by US president Donald Trump.
Some shops in Iran have reopened as country’s daily death toll fell to 73
Iran allowed some businesses in the capital Tehran to reopen on Saturday as the country’s daily death toll from coronavirus fell to 73, its lowest in more than a month.
So-called low-risk businesses – including many shops, factories and workshops – resumed operations in Tehran, a week after reopening in the rest of the country, state television said.
Croatia extends its lockdown for another 15 days
Croatia is extending its coronavirus lockdown for another 15 days, but a minister says the country is exploring the possibility of gradually easing restrictions.
Shops, bars, restaurants and schools were closed a month ago, with public transport also stopped, leaving open only food stores, pharmacies and petrol stations. People have only been allowed to leave their homes to buy essentials, seek medical treatment, go for a walk or do an exercise, but not in a group and avoiding social contact.
New York daily death toll at two-week low
The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, said “this is no time for division,” during his daily briefing on Saturday, following an attack on Twitter by Donald Trump, the US president.
He also announced the daily death toll for New York was at two-week low.
He said the pandemic was the “greatest challenge since world war two” and that it is as “tumultuous a time as we have ever seen,” adding “it is no time for politics.”
On Friday, Cuomo fired back at criticism from Trump over whether the state had requested too much federal help during the pandemic.
In one tweet, Trump had said the Democratic governor should spend more time “doing” and less time “complaining.”
Following this Cuomo said: “First of all, if he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.”
Deaths in New York State rose by 540 on Friday, the lowest daily death tally since April began.
Cuomo also said new hospital admissions stayed around the 2,000-patient mark, which he said was “still an overwhelming number.”
He said that contact tracing would require “an army,” and he called on the federal government to coordinate the ramping up of testing.
Updated
Iran allowed some businesses in the capital Tehran to reopen on Saturday as the country’s daily death toll from coronavirus fell to 73, its lowest in more than a month.
So-called low-risk businesses – including many shops, factories and workshops – resumed operations in Tehran, a week after reopening in the rest of the country, state television said.
Television footage showed health inspectors visiting shops and reminding a baker that he was required to wear a mask despite working near a hot oven. Other inspectors were seen controlling stores where employees handed out gloves to customers.
Updated
Pakistan has taken the decision to lift restrictions on congregational prayers at mosques, but a host of safety conditions have been put in place to avert the further spread of coronavirus, the government announced on Saturday.
The south Asian nation, the second most populous Muslim country in the world, imposed the restrictions less than a month ago, allowing only three to five people at mosques for prayers.
The decision to lift restrictions, taken in a meeting between Pakistani president Arif Alvi and religious leaders, comes less than a week before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in which the size of congregations typically increases, Reuters reports.
“Mosques are given permission conditional to taking due precautions,” a statement following the meeting said, adding that it was mandatory for mosque visitors to wear masks.
Pakistan has registered 7,638 cases of coronavirus and 143 deaths, with health experts warning that congregations pose the biggest threat to the limited healthcare infrastructure of the country of more than 200 million people.
According to the statement, worshippers will have to maintain a two-metre (6ft) distance from each other instead of the usual Muslim practice of praying shoulder-to-shoulder and mosque administrations will disinfect premises regularly.
The government had been under pressure to reverse the congregation restrictions, and clashes between mosque attendees and police had been reported in Karachi, the country’s largest city. Earlier this week renowned clerics threatened to violate the restrictions, saying prayers were essential for Muslims and should be allowed as long as safety measures were observed.
While the government has reversed the restrictions, the statement warned that it reserved the right to review the matter if guidelines were violated.
It is thought that Pakistan could see a peak in the spread of coronavirus in mid-May.
Updated
Hi, this is Nicola Slawson in the UK. I’m taking over the reins of the live blog now.
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Updated
Hundreds of workers in Bangladesh have taken to the streets in defiance of social distancing rules to demand unpaid wages during the Covid-19 shutdown.
The country, which is the world’s second-largest clothing producer after China, is predicted to lose about $6bn (£4.8bn) of export revenues this financial year as retailers and brands across the world cancel orders. It has sent troops out into the streets to help enforce a shutdown on travel and restrictions on gatherings.
But crowds of workers poured onto the streets in the port city of Chittagong on Saturday, saying they were still waiting for last month’s wages. Police talked to one factory owner who had promised to make the payments by 28 April, a local officer told Reuters.
Last month Bangladesh’s government launched a $588m package to help companies in the garment sector pay staff during the pandemic, but manufacturers have said it is not enough.
Bangladesh reported 306 new cases of coronavirus and nine more deaths on Saturday, taking the total to 2,144 confirmed cases and 84 fatalities. Though the official figures are relatively low compared to other countries, health officials have warned that the infection could still spread fast through the surrounding south Asia region, home to a fifth of the world’s population where millions live in packed slums with fragile public health systems.
Neighbouring India reported 991 new confirmed cases and 42 deaths from the virus on Saturday, taking the total number of reported cases to 14,378 and fatalities to 480.
Updated
At least five people have died, including a young girl, and several others were injured in a stampede when government officials in north-east Nigeria distributed cash and clothes to thousands of desperate people displaced by jihadist violence.
Around 70,000 people live in displacement camps in Borno state’s Gamboru, a town near the Cameroonian border. This morning, as a government convoy was handing out money and garments, mainly to women and children in Gamboru, a stampede for the aid was created, killing four women and a young girl, local hospital officials said.
Local civilian militias, engaged in the conflict with jihadist groups, told AFP the death toll was higher, with more than 12 women and children losing their lives. A decade since Boko Haram’s insurgency in north-east Nigeria began, the conflict continues to rage, with almost 2 million people displaced from their homes and reliant on support from the government and aid groups.
In 2016, a faction loyal to the Islamic State terror group split from Boko Haram, further complicating and deepening a conflict which has claimed at least 36,000 lives and spread into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
Updated
France will try to avoid setting different rules for elderly people once the government starts easing its coronavirus confinement measures, the president’s office has said, amid criticism at the impact of the lockdown on the older generation.
It comes as president Emmanuel Macron sparked a backlash in recent days, after he said on Monday that older people, who are considered more vulnerable to the deadly virus, would be asked to stay home for longer.
The lockdown in France, which approached 19,000 Covid-19 deaths yesterday, includes restrictions on store openings and people’s movements which will remain in place until at least May 11, Macron has confirmed.
After that, schools and shops are set to reopen, though it is still unclear at what speed France will allow some businesses like hotels or cafes to restart, and whether it plans to lift home confinement recommendations for everyone at the same time.
Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council advising the government on the epidemic, also fuelled the debate after he proposed that confinement should continue for people aged 65 to 70 and above.
“The president has followed the growing debate about the situation for elderly citizens after 11 May,” the Élysée palace told Reuters on Saturday.
He does not want there to be any discrimination among citizens after 11 May in the context of a gradual easing of confinement measures, and will appeal to people’s individual responsibility.”
The government is still likely to recommend that some people should stay at home for their own protection, however. “We will ask the most vulnerable people, older people, severely disabled people, and those who suffer from chronic illnesses, to remain in confinement even after 11 May, at least in a first instance,” Macron said in his televised address on 13 April.
I know it’s a major constraint ... But we’ll have to try to abide by this to protect you, it’s in your interest.”
Updated
Croatia is extending its coronavirus lockdown for another 15 days, but a minister says the country is exploring the possibility of gradually easing restrictions.
Shops, bars, restaurants and schools were closed a month ago, with public transport also stopped, leaving open only food stores, pharmacies and petrol stations. People have only been allowed to leave their homes to buy essentials, seek medical treatment, go for a walk or do an exercise, but not in a group and avoiding social contact.
Interior minister Davor Božinović said on Saturday that the government was considering relaxing certain measures to help the economy, while at the same time continuing to protect the health of citizens, Reuters reports.
One such measure could be easing the restriction on leaving their homes, but travel would be possible only within their own region of the country. Travelling between different regions would remain barred unless people have a permit for specific business or medical reasons. The minister gave no timeframe for a decision, with the government due to convene for a session on Thursday.
The country has recorded 1,832 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 39 deaths. On Saturday the number of new infections rose by 18, the lowest daily increase registered since 17 March. The number of new cases has been dipping in recent days, with 50 new cases on Thursday and 23 on Friday.
Updated
UK's Covid-19 hospital death toll surpasses 15,000
In the UK, the official Covid-19 death toll has surpassed 15,000 – with 888 new fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours.
It means as of 5pm yesterday, of those hospitalised in the UK who have tested positive for coronavirus, 15,464 people have died.
As of 9am 18 April, 460,437 tests have concluded, with 21,389 tests on 17 April.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 18, 2020
357,023 people have been tested of which 114,217 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 17 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 15,464 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/yZmas1wSvS
The 888 new recorded daily deaths mark a slight increase from yesterday, when 847 were reported, and figures earlier this week when daily deaths dropped to 717 . The deadliest day so far in the UK was just over a week ago when 980 fatalities were recorded in hospitals.
Updated
My colleague Adam Gabbatt reports that thousands of people are preparing to attend protests across the US in the coming days, as a rightwing movement against stay-at-home orders, backed by wealthy conservative groups and promoted by Donald Trump, continues to take hold.
Conservative activists are demanding governors lift orders designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus, despite the recommendations of public health officials. Trump, who has clashed with Democratic governors over how soon to reopen the US economy, tweeted his support on Friday, in an unprecedented endorsement of civil disobedience by a sitting president.
LIBERATE MICHIGAN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
Many of the planned rallies have been inspired by a protest at the Michigan state capitol on Wednesday, which was attended by thousands.
He has conquered some of Europe’s most challenging mountain bike climbs and is a former Tour de France champion.
Now Geraint Thomas has completed a feat of a different kind, finishing a 36-hour indoor cycling stint to raise more than £300,000 for the NHS in the UK as it continues to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The Welshman rode three 12-hour sessions, each designed to emulate the length of a NHS worker’s shift, in the garage of his Cardiff home to raise funds, finishing his last yesterday.
“No exaggeration, the last two hours were the hardest I have ever had on the bike,” he told the BBC on Saturday. “I could barely sit down,” he added. As of writing, the sportsman has raised nearly £334,000. Here’s an update he posted on Twitter yesterday:
Really feeling it now (in places you don’t want to feel it...) One last push 💪🏼 almost £290,000 raised 👀👀 https://t.co/K9RomHbTd3 pic.twitter.com/1kFh1oda6y
— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) April 17, 2020
Updated
North Korean authorities reportedly told citizens in public lectures that there were confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country as early as the end of March – despite official claims that it has not had any.
The lecturers, speaking to organisations and neighbourhood watch groups, said there were Covid-19 cases within the country, without giving any numbers, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported, citing two sources, one in Pyongyang and one in Ryanggang province.
The lecturers said the confirmed cases were in Pyongyang, South Hwanghae province and North Hamgyong province, RFA reported. Pyongyang had previously reinforced border checks and ordered foreigners from any country that has reported a case of Covid-19 to spend 30 days in quarantine, flying dozens of diplomats out of the country in early March.
Updated
The number of Covid-19 deaths in the Netherlands has increased by 142 to 3,601, with an additional 1,140 confirmed cases taking the total to 31,589, the country’s health authorities have confirmed.
Elsewhere, in Switzerland the death toll from coronavirus has reached 1,111, according to the country’s public health agency, rising from 1,059 a day earlier. The number of people testing positive for the disease was up by 326, making a total of 27,404.
Updated
It’s Simon Murphy here back at the helm of the live blog now, with thanks to my colleague Molly Blackall for covering while I took a short break.
More news from Russia where authorities recorded a record daily rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, with nearly 5,000 new infections, and president Vladimir Putin ordered the government to provide daily forecasts.
The government must “provide a short-term prognosis of the number of citizens who may contract the new infectious disease (Covid-19)” and report its estimates on a daily basis, according to an order published on the Kremlin’s website.
It came after the coronavirus death toll rose to 313 in the country. The number of coronavirus-related deaths rose by 40 overnight, with authorities reporting 4,785 new cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 36,793.
Updated
Here are a few of the most poignant pieces of coronavirus photojournalism from around the world today.
Updated
In Switzerland, 27,404 people have now tested positive for coronavirus, up from 27,078 a day earlier.
The death toll has also risen to 1,111 from 1,059, the country’s health agency said.
Amazon has begun using thermal cameras inside its warehouses to screen workers who could be infected with coronavirus, employees have told Reuters.
The cameras record how much heat is emitted from a person, with temperature being one of the most common symptoms of the virus.
Cases of coronavirus have been reported among staff at more than 50 of Amazon’s US warehouses.
Some workers have walked out on their work, after concerns over their safety, and unions and officials have called on Amazon to shut down the buildings.
In France, Amazon has closed six of its fulfilment centres temporarily – one of the biggest fallouts yet from a dispute with workers over the risks of coronavirus contagion.
Updated
Hi everyone, I’m Molly Blackall, taking over the blog while my colleague Simon has a break.
If you spot something you think we should be covering, you can drop me a tweet @mollyblackall. I won’t always be able to respond, but will endeavour to read them all.
Spain coronavirus deaths hit 20,000
The coronavirus death toll in Spain, one of the world’s worst-hit countries by the pandemic, has topped 20,000 after 565 new fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours.
The number of the total dead from Covid-19 in the country hit 20,043 on Saturday. The rise was slightly lower than Friday, when an additional 585 deaths were recorded.
The number of overall coronavirus cases rose to 191,726 on Saturday from 188,068 on Friday, the country’s health ministry added.
Updated
Contaminated official document blamed for Covid-19 outbreak at Afghan presidential palace
More from Afghanistan where it has now emerged that at least 20 officials working at president Ashraf Ghani’s palace have tested positive for coronavirus. Extraordinarily, the outbreak is thought to have been caused by a contaminated document delivered to the palace from another government department, according to a senior health official.
It has prompted the 70-year-old leader to limit most of his contact with staff to digital communication. “A contaminated document was sent to an office inside the palace from another government department and that’s how the employees were infected,” an official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Some of the employees were still working in their offices when the results came out, and we had to quarantine them and their families, but the numbers could be higher,” the official added.
Sediq Sediqqi, Ghani’s spokesman, said the Civil Service Commission has already asked government employees to stay at home before the tests were conducted and that order has been extended for another three weeks.
A government source told Reuters that Ghani, who in the past has said he suffered from health issues related to his stomach, has limited contact with staff, conducting most meetings through video conference calls and meeting only a handful in his inner circle in person.
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Hundreds of British nationals to be repatriated from Bangladesh
Hundreds of British nationals stranded in Bangladesh amid the coronavirus pandemic will be repatriated after the UK government chartered four flights.
Sick and elderly people, deemed most at risk, will be given priority, the Foreign Office said. Up to 850 Britons are expected to board the new flights, which will leave the capital, Dhaka, for London on 21, 23, 25 and 26 of April, the department said.
FCO minister of state Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said:
We are in a truly unprecedented situation, and I know people are concerned about getting home to their loved ones.
Foreign Office staff in the UK and Bangladesh have been working tirelessly with the Bangladeshi authorities to help British travellers who want to come back to the UK and these flights mean people can now do that.
Tickets will cost £600 per person and travellers will also be able to board transfer flights to the capital from Sylhet, in the country’s north east. It comes after the UK government announced 17 chartered flights from India and 10 from Pakistan, expected to bring home around 4,000 and 2,500 passengers respectively.
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In the UK, the Queen’s birthday on Tuesday will not be marked by gun salutes, in what is believed to be a first, due to the coronavirus crisis.
A Buckingham Palace source said the Queen’s 94th birthday would not be marked in any special way, adding that any calls with family would be kept private.
The source told PA: “There will be no gun salutes – Her Majesty was keen that no special measures were put in place to allow gun salutes as she did not feel it appropriate in the current circumstances.”
It follows reports that the pandemic has also forced Princess Beatrice to cancel her royal wedding due to take place next month.
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Iran’s official Covid-19 death toll has topped 5,000.
In the last 24 hours, there have been 73 new coronavirus deaths bringing the country’s total to 5,031 so far, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpour has told state TV.
The daily death toll is one of the lowest in recent days, he said, adding that the number of people diagnosed with Covid-19 in the country has reached 80,868.
According to a parliamentary report released earlier this week, the coronavirus death toll might be almost double the figure announced by the health ministry, and the number of infections eight to 10 times higher.
Iran is the worst-affected country in the Middle East, with one of the world’s highest coronavirus-related death tolls.
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Extra supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) will be delivered directly to more than 1,000 care homes in Scotland, as concerns about supply and quality of PPE continue.
While the care sector usually sources its own PPE, the pandemic has put extreme pressure on supply chains with concerns raised earlier this week that some manufacturers did not have capacity to deliver to Scotland.
The Scottish government announced overnight that the NHS National Services Scotland would prioritise the delivery of stock directly to care homes where the virus is known to be present, although stock would still be provided to local hubs which supply PPE to other social care workers.
Yesterday, the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) claimed new PPE for officers would not provide any “meaningful protection”, after Police Scotland announced staff would be given surgical face masks to wear when adhering to social distancing measures was not possible. But the SPF said that its new expert panel, set up in response to the pandemic, had refused to endorse the type two masks.
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An interesting study has emerged in the US which found that the number of people infected with coronavirus could be as much as 85 times higher than previously thought.
The research from Stanford University, which was published on Friday, tested samples from 3,330 people in Santa Clara county, in California, and found the virus to be 50 to 85 times more common than official figures indicated.
The study, the first large-scale one of its kind, has yet to be peer reviewed and was conducted by identifying antibodies in healthy individuals through a finger prick test, which indicated whether they had already contracted and recovered from the virus.
At the time of the study, Santa Clara county had 1,094 confirmed cases of Covid-19, resulting in 50 deaths. But, based on the rate of people who have antibodies, it is likely that between 48,000 and 81,000 people had been infected in the county by early April – a number approximately 50 to 80 times higher.
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Record daily jump of Covid-19 cases in Russia
The Covid-19 death toll in Russia has risen to 313, as the country recorded a record daily jump in confirmed infections.
The number of coronavirus-related deaths rose by 40 overnight, with authorities reporting 4,785 new cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 36,793.
Moscow, which became the centre of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak and was also the first region in the country to introduce a lockdown, recorded 2,649 new cases and 21 new deaths, the Russian coronavirus crisis response centre said.
Infections began rising sharply this month, although the country had reported far fewer infections than many western European nations in the outbreak’s early stages, Reuters reported.
However, like some other nations, health authorities in Russia are not carrying out mass testing. Private testing results in Moscow among people without symptoms suggest the virus has penetrated more deeply into its population than official data shows.
Elsewhere, Indonesia has reported 15 new Covid-19 deaths, taking the total to 535, as well as 325 new confirmed infections. It takes the total number of infections in the country, the world’s fourth most populous with a quarter of a billion people, to 6,248.
A study by the London-based Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases released last month estimated that as few as 2% of Indonesia’s coronavirus infections have been reported.
On Friday, Indonesia surpassed the Philippines to become the country with the highest number of infections in south-east Asia. It has the most number of deaths in Asia outside of China.
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Afghanistan’s health minister, Ferozuddin Feroz, has warned that Covid-19 cases will continue to rise as the number of confirmed infections reached 933 and lockdown measures have been extended.
Feroz has said that if some people continue not to take the virus seriously, more will get infected. Despite partial curfews and lockdowns in some provinces, streets are packed with vehicles and people walk around freely.
In the last 24 hours, 27 new Covid-19 cases were recorded, Feroz said. Of new cases, 12 were confirmed in Kabul, taking the total number of infections to 276 in the capital. The city is under full lockdown in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus, with measures extended for three more weeks.
The health minister has also confirmed three new deaths of people who had contracted coronavirus in the same period, bringing the total number of deaths to 33. There have been 112 recoveries.
The lockdown is also being implemented in provincial districts and roads connecting Kabul with other provinces remain closed. Herat, which has so far been the worst affected area in Afghanistan, has had fewer new confirmed coronavirus cases in recent days with only two new cases reported today. The total number in the province stands at 328.
The country’s finance ministry said on Friday that Afghanistan was seeking more foreign aid to help fight the pandemic. According to the ministry, the government needs around $350m (£280m).
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US accused of a "dereliction of duty"
Donald Trump’s administration has been accused of a dereliction of duty by a senator over its failure to rapidly expand coronavirus testing.
Angus King, the independent senator of Maine, vented his frustration to vice-president Mike Pence during a call yesterday, according to reports.
“I have never been so mad about a phone call in my life,” King reportedly said during the call. He later tweeted:
If you know me, you know I’m a pretty even-tempered guy – but right now, I’m angry. We need widespread testing to understand the scope of this problem and the administration has the tools to lead the charge. Instead, they’re trying to offload this responsibility to the states. https://t.co/JAZyUcqMNo
— Senator Angus King (@SenAngusKing) April 17, 2020
The White House coronavirus taskforce has pushed back at widespread criticism that the US lacks the testing capacity to end lockdowns and reopen its economy. According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Medicine coronavirus resource centre, the US has over 706,000 confirmed cases and more than 37,000 deaths, with 3.5 million people tested to date.
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Some 700 Taiwanese navy sailors are being put in quarantine after three Covid-19 cases were confirmed among the crew of a goodwill mission to the Pacific island state of Palau, the country’s government has announced.
Three Taiwan navy vessels visited Palau – an archipelago of islands which was under US administration until its independence in 1994 and one of only 15 countries to maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan – in the middle of March, before returning to Taiwan a month later, Chen Shih-chung, the health minister, said.
The three confirmed cases had all shared quarters on the same ship, but all 700 sailors on all three ships were being recalled and would be put into quarantine, he added.
Taiwan’s presidential office said that President Tsai Ing-wen had been at the ceremony to welcome back the ships but had only waved to the sailors from the shore and had not been exposed to the risk of infection. Taiwan, which has a population of approximately 23 million, has so far only reported 398 coronavirus cases and six deaths.
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A pregnant woman, a cancer patient, an elderly woman, a mother of six, several newly unemployed low-wage workers. They are among those facing eviction from their homes in California and being made homeless during the Covid-19 pandemic despite promised tenants’ rights protections.
My colleague Sam Levin reports that some landlords are proceeding to expel tenants from their homes, indicating there are significant gaps in the new regulations.
Unable to pay rent in April, they have faced eviction notices on their doors, police officers attempting to remove them, pressure from property owners to immediately vacate and written demands from landlords spreading falsehoods about the emergency laws. Some tenants said they were moving out as a result, becoming homeless amid a pandemic.
Virginia Gómez, a 51-year-old mother of six from Los Angeles who has been threatened with eviction from her home of three years as she can’t afford the rent, said:
I told the police, ‘You guys are wearing masks and gloves, but you want to throw us out to the streets when the virus is out there?’ How are we supposed to ‘stay at home’ when they kick us out?”
Last month, California’s governor ordered a two-month statewide delay on imposing evictions for people who cannot pay rent due to Covid-19. The order prevents the enforcement of evictions until the end of May, but requires tenants to repay the full amount later. But the accounts and records from tenants across the state indicate those regulations ultimately fail to provide relief for those who are most in need, and are not being properly enforced.
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Singapore has reported a record daily rise in the number of coronavirus cases, with 942 infections today.
It takes Covid-19 cases in the country – which has a population of 5.7 million – to 5,992. The country’s ministry of health said the vast majority of cases were work permit holders living in foreign worker dormitories.
It follows my colleague, Rebecca Ratcliffe, reporting yesterday that the country, praised for its gold standard approach to tracing coronavirus cases, is facing a surge in transmission linked to its cramped migrant workers’ dormitories, where thousands more infections are expected to emerge.
Officials have been accused of overlooking the dormitories, where between 12 and 20 men might share a single room.
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The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has hit 10,000 in Japan, the country’s public broadcaster has reported.
It comes just days after Japan’s state of emergency was extended to the entire nation in a bid to stem the spread of the disease.
Yesterday, the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, appealed for people to stay indoors amid fears medical services could fail.
Just over 200 people have died from the virus in Japan, with Tokyo being the hardest-hit area. The city recorded 201 new infections on Friday, a new record, and an additional 181 cases today.
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In the UK, a senior clinician at the first Nightingale hospital, the world’s largest critical care facility which was built in less than a fortnight, has called for military expertise to help protect the mental health of staff and volunteers.
Prof James Calder, who had a 14-year military career and is one of the clinical leads at NHS Nightingale in east London, said it was crucial to call on veterans who have worked in challenging situations as the UK rapidly expands its hospital care capacity to deal with the pandemic.
One report this week suggested the hospital was failing to help the capital’s “drowning” intensive care units and had diverted much-needed equipment away from the city’s hospitals. The vast new hospital had just 30 patients on Tuesday, the Independent reported.
Prof Calder admitted he was sceptical about the new facility when he was brought on board but had been overwhelmed by what he characterised as early success. He told PA Media:
When I looked at it a few weeks ago I thought: ‘That’s nigh-on impossible.’ I was very suspicious about how on Earth we’re going to deliver this. But it’s gradually evolved and you realise: ‘This can work now.’
When we turned up here for the first time we said: ‘Wow, this is a big empty space, it’s got water, it’s got electricity, it’s got a roof, and nobody’s shooting at you.
So actually this is achievable – that’s not necessarily the case in other theatres we’ve been working in.
The 52-year-old said it was “incredibly impressive” that a high-quality intensive care unit had been set up in what was, in effect, a warehouse.
Somebody said you’re on the train and laying the tracks ahead of you as you are going along – and that’s absolutely right, you just have to make sure the train doesn’t go too quickly and run away with you.
Part of the success, he says, has been through dedication to the welfare of staff, many of whom are working “pretty exhausting” 12-hour shifts. Nightingale workers had borrowed a technique deployed on military operations where staff are paired with a buddy at the start of their shift, encouraging them to look out for one another throughout.
“If you have eyes with each other when you first go on a shift, you introduce yourselves, and speak to each other after the shift. If they get upset, have a difficult time with a patient or a death, they sit down and have a cup of tea. It worked very well in the past in the military and it’s working very well here,” he said.
Updated
Good morning from the UK, folks. Simon Murphy here, taking over the global live blog now to take you through today’s coronavirus coverage as the world continues to battle the pandemic.
Updated
Teachers, nurses and other workers who are regularly exposed to the public must now take a coronavirus test if they want to leave Wuhan, China has ruled.
The order comes after the central city, where the coronavirus emerged late last year, lifted a 70-day lockdown that all but ended the epidemic there.
People in Wuhan working in nursing, education, security and other sectors with high exposure to the public must take a nucleic acid test before leaving, the National Health Commission said.
Since the city relaxed its lockdown restrictions people who arrived in there before Chinese New Year, when the virus was peaking in China, are allowed to go back to their homes.
Updated
More than 2.2 million people have now been infected worldwide with Covid-19 and at least 154,219 people have died since the outbreak began, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The figures, which are based on official data and media reports, are likely to underestimate the true scale of the pandemic due to suspected underreporting and differing testing regimes.
Here is the latest summary of the biggest developments around the world:
Updated
Thailand has reported 33 new coronavirus infections, bringing the country’s total to 2,733 cases.
Eleven of the new cases were in Bangkok and had a history of going to public areas, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration.
Some have questioned if the low number of detected cases is down to a lack of testing in the country.
Thailand has reported 47 fatalities since the outbreak escalated in January. No new deaths were reported on Saturday.
Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen by 3,609 to 137,439, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday.
This post has been updated to clarify that the number of daily cases often fluctuates over the course of a week, and that this may reflect the number of tests being carried out each day. Thank you to readers who have got in touch about this. Both Robert Koch Institute and Johns Hopkins University have a lot of useful data showing daily cases in Germany.
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Summary
- China is pushing to reopen its economy. State media reported plans to increase government spending and cut market loan rates. This follows reports on Friday that the country’s economy shrank 6.8% in the first three months of 2020, the country’s first such contraction on record.
- President Donald Trump said protestors who flouted social distancing measures “seem to be very responsible people”. Some states are going too far with social distancing measures, he said, but he did not believe stay-at-home orders should be dropped altogether
- Democratic lawmakers have called for anti-bias training for police officers. People in communities of color have concern about being profiled while wearing masks or other face coverings in public.
- Syria’s Kurdish-led northeast has confirmed first case of coronavirus. Agencies have warned that health infrastructure in the northeast, which has been shattered by war, would be unable to cope with an outbreak.
- Japan is scrambling to expand testing. Drive-through facilities and general practitioners will help increase the samples being taken. There is alarm over rising coronavirus deaths and a worsening crisis facing the country’s emergency medical system.
- Flights deporting Guatemalan migrants from the United States have once again been temporarily suspended. This follows news that migrants who arrived in the country on Monday were infected with Covid-19.
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All airline passengers in Canada must now wear masks, the country’s transport regular has said.
Australia's death toll rises to 68
Australia’s coronavirus-related death toll rose by three to a total of 68 on Saturday, health data showed.
The daily growth rate of new infections has steadied in the country, following the introduction of strict curbs on public movement.
Australia recorded 36 new cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases to 6,533, according to the health ministry data. The government has stepped up calls for people to sign up for a controversial movement-tracking mobile phone app, which ministers say will help the government to monitor outbreaks.
Government services minister Stuart Robert said there would there will be no surveillance involved with the app, which is to be ready within weeks. “The app is simply a health app,” Robert said in a televised briefing.
Prime minister Scott Morrison has also said that people are being asked to download the app voluntarily.
The App we are working on to help our health workers trace people who have been in contact with coronavirus will not be mandatory.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) April 18, 2020
Updated
Here’s a brief summary of some the developments from the US, including Friday’s White House briefing.
- President Donald Trump said that protestors who flouted social distancing measures “seem to be very responsible people”. Demonstrations against stay-at-home orders, which have drawn elements of the far right, have been held in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia. Some protesters have carried guns, waved Trump and Confederate flags and sought to frame the debate as a defence of constitutional freedoms.
- Trump said that some states are going too far with social distancing measures, but added that he did not believe stay-at-home orders should be dropped altogether. Asked to address a series of incendiary tweets which appeared to stoke protests against social restrictions in three states led by Democratic governors, he said he was “very comfortable” with what he posted.
- Trump cast doubt on China’s death toll, which was revised up on Friday, and said that “a lot of strange things are happening” regarding the origins of the novel coronavirus. While the source of the virus is unknown, the broad scientific consensus is that it originated in bats.
- Trump’s coronavirus task force members pushed back against criticism that limited testing ability is preventing the country from tackling the virus.
- A $19 billion relief program will help US farmers cope with the impact of the coronavirus. This includes $16 billion in direct payments to producers and mass purchases of meat, dairy, vegetables and other products.
Updated
Japan, alarmed by rising coronavirus deaths, is scrambling to expand testing with drive-through facilities and general practitioners helping to collect samples.
For weeks Japan has limited its testing for the coronavirus, despite calls from many health experts who see testing as vital to detecting and isolating cases and slowing the spread.
Japan conducted about 52,000 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in March, or just 16% of the number carried out in South Korea, according to data from Oxford University.
Experts say Japan’s strategy of keeping the number of PCR tests low has made it difficult to trace the disease as it spread in Tokyo and other big cities and led to a wave of in-hospital infections, crippling some facilities.
Japan’s total infections stand at more than 9,800, with 207 deaths, according to a tally by public broadcaster NHK.
In the US, Democratic lawmakers want police departments to be vigilant about any racially biased policing during the coronavirus pandemic, as people in communities of color express fears of being profiled while wearing masks or other face coverings in public.
Senator Kamala Harris of California was among several senators to write to the Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray urging agencies to give anti-bias training to officers.
With the ongoing public health emergency, it is more important than ever for law enforcement to build trust with communities of color, the senators said in the letter, which was first shared with The Associated Press.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people who go out in public wear a surgical mask or a cloth covering their nose and mouth to prevent the spread of the virus. And already, some black men have reported incidents of racial profiling while following the recommendations.
One World: Together at Home, a benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga, will be broadcast across the US television networks ABC, CBS and NBC, as well as being streamed online, at 8pm EST tonight. In the UK, BBC One will show an adapted version of the concert on 19 April.
The concert is being held in support of the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 solidarity response fund and in celebration of health workers around the world.
The lineup includes Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, Lizzo, J Balvin, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Alanis Morissette, Burna Boy, Andrea Bocelli, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Elton John, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban and Lang Lang.
SAVE THE DATE: 18 APRIL 2020
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 18, 2020
One World: #TogetherAtHome is a historic, global broadcast to support the fight against #COVID19. @GlblCtzn @WHO @ladygaga
Watch here @WHO 👉 https://t.co/LCAOftqqGq pic.twitter.com/UFZfgHopuW
Walmart said on Friday it would hire 50,000 more workers at its stores, clubs and distribution centers to meet a surge in demand for groceries and household essentials from consumers stockpiling during the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters has reported.
The retailer said it had reached its earlier target of hiring 150,000 workers six weeks ahead of schedule, taking in 5,000 people per day on average at a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs amid unprecedented “stay-at-home” orders.
Walmart said it had worked with more than 70 companies that furloughed workers due to the pandemic to hire its 150,000 new employees, many of whom came from the restaurant and hospitality industries. The majority of workers being hired are going into temporary or part-time roles.
Skyrocketing demand for food, hand sanitizer, toilet paper and other household products has also prompted retailers Kroger, Target and Amazon to hire by the thousands.
Updated
Japan's emergency medical system pushed to the brink
Hospitals in Japan are increasingly turning away sick people as the country struggles with surging coronavirus infections and its emergency medical system collapses, Associated Press has reported.
In one recent case, an ambulance carrying a man with a fever and difficulty breathing was rejected by 80 hospitals and forced to search for hours for a hospital in downtown Tokyo that would treat him. Another feverish man finally reached a hospital after paramedics unsuccessfully contacted 40 clinics.
The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society for Emergency Medicine say many hospital emergency rooms are refusing to treat people including those suffering strokes, heart attacks and external injuries.
Japan initially seemed to have controlled the outbreak by going after clusters of infections in specific places, usually enclosed spaces such as clubs, gyms and meeting venues. But the spread of virus outpaced this approach and most new cases are untraceable.
Apart from a general unwillingness to embrace social distancing, experts fault government incompetence and a widespread shortage of the protective gear and equipment medical workers need to do their jobs.
Japan lacks enough hospital beds, medical workers or equipment. Forcing hospitalization of anyone with the virus, even those with mild symptoms, has left hospitals overcrowded and understaffed.
Updated
Migrants on US deportation flight were infected with coronavirus, Guatemala says
Here is some further detail from Guatemala, where president Alejandro Giammattei has said that migrants who arrived in the country on Monday were infected with Covid-19.
Giammattei said 12 randomly selected migrants who took the deportation flight from the US tested positive for coronavirus when examined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US health protection agency.
He suggested more on the flight had tested positive for the virus. “A large part of it was infected,” the president said in a televised address.
Flights deporting Guatemalan migrants from the United States were on Thursday once again temporarily suspended after reports of the mass infection. Deportation flights had only started again on Monday following a five-day suspension.
An Argentine official has given some on-air sex education for onanistic lovers in the time of the coronavirus, Reuters has reported.
Jose Barletta, a doctor with the country’s health ministry, said in a televised broadcast that people needed to wash their hands after sex - whether it was in person or, as is increasingly the case, over digital channels.
“It’s more important than ever to wash your hands after having sexual relations, after masturbation, or virtual sex,” Barletta said. “It is important to disinfect keyboards, telephones, sex toys and whatever else you might be using, whether or not you are sharing these things with others.”
The coronavirus lockdown has led to an increase in sales of sex toys in countries ranging from Denmark to Colombia.
Argentina’s lockdown began on March 20 and will run until at least April 26. The country has recorded 2,669 confirmed cases of the coronavirus so far, 122 of them fatal.
A report by the Bangkok Post today details the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on tourism in Thailand.
The country is likely welcome only 16 million international tourists this year - far below the pre-coronavirus target of 40 million. The number of domestic trips is also down dramatically: from 172 million expected trips to 60 million, according to Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT governor told the Bangkok Post:
This revised forecast assumes tourism activities can resume in May, with the outbreak in Thailand levelling off while overseas infections subside...The industry needs to watch the situation closely before commencing business.”
Thailand has recorded 2,672 cases, with infections appearing to slow in recent weeks. Limited testing means the actual number of cases may be higher.
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Syria's Kurdish-led northeast confirms first case of coronavirus
The Kurdish-led administration in Syria’s northeast has said that the World Health Organisation had found the area’s first case of coronavirus earlier this month after samples were tested in Damascus, Reuters has reported.
In a statement the regional administration said a 53-year-old man had died at Qamishli National Hospital on April 2 and that a sample sent to Damascus had tested positive for COVID-19, the lung disease caused by the coronavirus.
But it said health authorities in the northeast, a region ruled autonomously from Damascus, had not been made aware of the results, which emerged on the same day as the patient’s death.
A WHO regional spokesperson said the positive test result was reported by the Syrian government health ministry on April 2, and that active surveillance was being carried out in northeast Syria to probe for other potential cases.
“Contact tracing of the patient’s close contacts was conducted, and all were reported negative. However, another family member is currently reportedly also in hospital with symptoms of COVID-19 with test results pending,” said WHO spokesperson Inas Hamam.
The Kurdish-led administration said it was “dangerous” that their health authorities had not been informed directly when the case was first confirmed.
Guatemalan president, Alejandro Giammattei, says a large number of migrants on a US deportation flight to Guatemala on Monday were infected with the coronavirus, Reuters has reported.
I’ll bring you more information about this later.
All airline passengers must wear masks, says Canada's transport regulator
Transport Canada said on Friday that all airline passengers would be required to wear a non-medical mask or face covering during travel to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The regulator said travellers must cover their mouth and nose during the boarding process and flights. The rule goes into effect at noon ET on Monday.
Air Canada, the country’s largest carrier, had previously recommended that customers wear a face-covering over their mouth and noses while onboard its flights.
Mexico’s president said on Friday that Trump has promised Mexico will be able to buy 1,000 ventilators and other intensive-therapy equipment used in treating severe cases of Covid-19.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called it a new gesture of solidarity with Mexico and said, “I made the proposal that we could meet in June or July to personally express our appreciation.”
Such a visit would be unusual, especially if it implied the Mexican leader would travel to the United States. López Obrador has eschewed trips abroad since he took office in December 2018.
Mexico, which has releatively few ventilators, currently has 6,875 confirmed coronavirus cases and 546 deaths.
Me llamó el presidente Donald Trump para responder a la solicitud que le hicimos sobre la adquisición de ventiladores y equipo médico de terapia intensiva. pic.twitter.com/8yPLs3Ku4d
— Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) April 17, 2020
At Friday’s White House briefing, president Donald Trump defended his recent series of “liberate” tweets, which appeared to stoke protests against stay-at-home measures in three states led by Democratic governors.
Asked to address the tweets, Trump said he is “very comfortable” with what he posted, and said that some states are going too far with social distancing measures. States are currently following federal guidelines encouraging Americans to stay home.
Protestors who gathered around the country and flouted distancing measures, Trump said, “seem to be very responsible people”.
Also during the briefing, Dr Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, said the US will need to conduct at least 4.5m tests a month before its safe to move into Phase 1 of the administration’s Opening Up America Again plan. The president was less measured in his assessment, insisting that many states were ready to reopen, despite a lack of testing and evidence that the number of cases are decreasing.
Updated
China pushes for reopening of the economy
At a meeting on Friday, China’s politburo said that the government must pursue comprehensive reopening of China’s economy while take steps to restrict the spread of coronavirus, it was reported by China’s state-run Global Times this morning.
The meeting also said government spending should be increased and the central bank should cut market loan rates to support business.
#China's CPC Politiburo meeting on Friday said the country needs to pursue a "proactive fiscal policy" by raising budget deficits to ramp up govt spending, and at the same time, encourage the central bank to cut market loan rates to support vast enterprises. pic.twitter.com/IPsktV0Zys
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 17, 2020
This follow’s reports yesterday that China’s economy shrank 6.8% in the first three months of 2020, the country’s first such contraction on record and a stark sign of the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
You can read a full report here by Lily Kuo, the Guardian’s Beijing bureau chief.
Updated
China has reported that on Friday 27 new coronavirus cases were confirmed, of which 17 were linked to foreign travel. No new fatalities were recorded.
Hello this is Rebecca Ratcliffe, bringing you the latest global coronavirus updates.
China will push ahead with reopening its economy, state media reported on Saturday morning, just one day after it emerged the country’s economy had shrank 6.8% in the first three months of 2020, the country’s first such contraction on record.
Here are the latest developments from elsewhere around the world:
- Trump defended a series of incendiary “liberate” tweets which appeared to stoke protests against physical distancing measures, saying he is “very comfortable” with what he posted.
- An unprecedented US policy that uses the pandemic as grounds to summarily expel people who have migrated to or sought asylum in the country violates international law, the United Nations has warned
- Chile will become the first country to issue “immunity cards” to those who have recovered from Covid-19, exempting holders from quarantine so that they can return to work.
- The death toll in France has exceeded 18,000. According to the most recent official data, 18,681 people have now died in France; an increase of 761 in 24 hours.
- A further 847 people have died in UK hospitals, taking the total to 14,576 since the outbreak began.
- Capt Tom Moore, the British second world war veteran who sought sponsorship to walk 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday, has now raised more than £20m for National Health Service charities.
- Nearly 100,000 EU citizens remain stranded abroad. This compares with 600,000 who had reported being stranded at the start of the outbreak.
- Germany has declared its coronavirus outbreak under control as it prepares to take its first tentative steps out of lockdown next week.
If you think we’ve missed a story or want to draw our attention to something please do get in touch. My email is rebecca.ratcliffe@theguardian.com and I’m @rebeccarat on Twitter.
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