We’ve started a new coronavirus world news blog at the link below. Follow me there, where I’ll be taking you through the most important global developments for the next few hours:
Summary
Hi, Helen Sullivan with you now. Here is a summary of the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic.
Seen anything you think we may have missed? Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
- The US now has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world. Johns Hopkins University suggests the US now has more suspected and confirmed cases of Covid-19 than China with 82,404 reported in the US and 81,782 in China. Italy is third with 80,589.
- The global number of confirmed cases of coronavirus has passed the half a million mark, according to the latest figures on the Johns Hopkins University global dashboard. The latest number of confirmed cases worldwide is 529,093.
- Leaders of the G20 industrialised nations committed to do “whatever it takes” to minimise the social and economic damage of the world-wide pandemic. But a largely unspecific and uncontroversial joint communique set no specific commitments such as deferring debt repayment to the world’s poorest countries, as sought by the World Bank and the IMF.
- China has announced it will close its borders to foreign nationals from this weekend. Other measures include restricting foreign airlines to a single route, with no more than one weekly flight. Each Chinese airline is permitted one route to any specific country with no more than one flight a week.
- Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, called on governments around the world to work together to create a vaccine as quickly as possible and make it available to anyone who needs it.
- The International Monetary Fund on Thursday asked G20 leaders to back a doubling of its emergency financing capacity to strengthen its response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic that is set to cause a global recession in 2020.
- France began evacuating coronavirus patients from Alsace using a special high-speed train. About 20 patients were taken from Strasbourg to hospitals in the Pays-de-la-Loire and other regions. The move is aimed at relieving pressure on hospitals overwhelmed in Alsace.
- The WHO said it sees ‘encouraging signs’ in Europe. The World Health Organiszation says it is encouraged by the lower rate of new infection in Italy.
- A slower rise in deaths was reported in Spain. Spain has announced anothera further 655 coronavirus fatalities, taking the country’s total to more than 4,000. As the increase is below the daily rise recorded on Wednesday it offers support to government claims that the rise is deaths in Spain is stabilising.
- India announced a stimulus package. India has announced a 1.7tn-rupee (£18.9bn) economic stimulus plan to millions of people, affected by a nationwide lockdown.
- Iran posted a record rise in cases. The health ministry confirmed another 157 deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking Iran’s total to 2,234 fatalities. A record 2,389 new cases had been recorded over the same period. Five days ago, the numbers being infected daily was below 900.
- The UK recorded its biggest daily rise in deaths. The number of people who have died from coronavirus in UK hospitals has risen by 115 in a single day to 578, as of 5pm on Thursday. It is the biggest daily rise in deaths across the country since the outbreak began.
- Moscow shut down as Russia banned flights. Moscow announced it would close restaurants, bars, parks, and shops other than grocery stores and pharmacies. It came as Russia posted record growth for confirmed coronavirus cases for the second day in a row.
Updated
At 8pm on Thursday millions of people across the UK stood at their front doors and open windows, in gardens and on balconies, to raise a thunder of gratitude for those working on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus:
Click below for the full story.
One million home testing kits for coronavirus could be sent out across the UK in a matter of weeks, according to public health officials.
Public Health England (PHE) appeared to provide hope that the UK lockdown could be scaled back after announcing that testing kits were being assessed for household use.
People are currently having to obey strict rules about remaining indoors in a bid to stall the spread of coronavirus.
But testing kits could allow those who have had the deadly virus to return to their normal routines because health experts believe there is a period of immunity after having contracted the disease.
Prof Yvonne Doyle said immunity was thought to be at its “strongest” for 28 days after fighting off the disease, but the period of protection could be longer.
Australian federal and state leaders will meet on Friday amid growing expectations the largest states could enforce a wide-ranging lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Further fiscal support measures are also expected to be discussed in the meeting of the prime minister, state premiers and chief ministers, according to local media.
Australia will also charter commercial flights to bring home hundreds of its citizens stranded in South America, foreign minister Marise Payne said in a statement.
The number of coronavirus cases in Australia approached 3,000 from less than 100 at the start of March, according to health authorities, raising fears about a wider spread in the community.
Although well below levels elsewhere in the world, the pace of Australia’s infections is picking up speed, raising fears the country’s hospitals will soon be overwhelmed.
New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, recorded a jump of 186 Covid-19 cases overnight, taking the total to 1,405.
Health authorities are particularly concerned about the 145 cases which were acquired from an “undeterminable source.”
NSW has tightened restrictions on people movement and is enforcing self isolation. But NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned further mobility restrictions were on the cards.
South Africa came under a nationwide military-patrolled lockdown on Friday, joining other African countries imposing strict curfews and shutdowns in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus across the continent.
Some 57 million people are to be restricted to their homes during South Africa’s three-week total lockdown which began at midnight.
Kenya, Rwanda and Mali are some of the African countries that have imposed restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has been confirmed to have infected 3,203 people and killed 87.
Although Africa’s toll is far lower than in Europe, the United States and the Middle East, health experts say the world’s poorest continent is especially vulnerable and the figures likely fall far short of the reality.
Donning camouflage uniform complete with a cap, president Cyril Ramaphosa saw off soldiers before they deployed from a military base in Soweto township outside economic hub Johannesburg.
“I send you out to go and defend our people against coronavirus,” Ramaphosa said.
“This is unprecedented, not only in our democracy but also in the history of our country, that we will have a lockdown for 21 days to go out and wage war against an invisible enemy coronavirus,” he said.
During South Africa’s shutdown there will be no jogging, dog-walking or sale of alcohol across the country, which so far has the highest number of detected infections in sub-Saharan Africa at 927, with Ramaphosa projecting it could reach 1,500 “within a few days”.
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Donald Trump said he will speak by phone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday as the US overtook China as the country with the most coronavirus cases.
With 82,404 cases of infection, the US has now surpassed virus hotspots China and Italy, according to a tracker run by Johns Hopkins University.
However Trump cast doubt on this in a press conference, saying: “You don’t know what the numbers are in China.”
Trump said he and Xi would be discussing the global pandemic and insisted they have a “very good relationship.”
Nurses will be transferred to London from other parts of England under NHS plans to help hospitals in the capital facing a “tsunami” of Covid-19 patients within days, the Guardian has learned.
European leaders have clashed over how to pull their economies through the coronavirus crisis, as Italy accused other member states of a timid response to an unprecedented economic shock.
European Union lawmakers approved on Thursday emergency funds to cushion the bloc’s economic slump triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and shore up battered airlines by preserving their landing slots.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) gave near unanimous support for three sets of proposals at the conclusion of a session that spanned more than 12 hours.
It was the parliament’s first ever remote vote following the suspension of meetings due to the risk of coronavirus transmission. Only a handful of lawmakers gathered in the Brussels plenary chamber with the most of the 688 participating MEPs scattered under lockdown across Europe.
“From one day to the next, our lifestyles changed. Our streets emptied. Our doors closed. And we moved from a daily routine to the fight of our lives,” the head of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, told the gathering.
Wearing white, latex protective gloves, she called on the chamber to vote into law a special 37-billion-euro fund to allow the 27 member states to spend more to prop up their economies.
The legislation will also allow an existing natural disaster fund to support strained public health services across the EU.
The assembly also supported the suspension of a rule that strips airlines of their landing slots if they do not run most of their scheduled services - to ease an industry crisis unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Prince of Wales has been seen for the first time since testing positive for coronavirus.
Clarence House posted a video in their Instagram Stories of heir to throne Charles joining in with the round of applause for the NHS from Birkhall in Scotland.
The prince, who appeared to be indoors, clapped along. There was also footage of Camilla, who is isolating from Charles because she does not have the Covid-19 illness, clapping separately as she looked out of an open window.
US now has most cases of Covid-19 in world
Johns Hopkins University suggests the US now has more suspected and confirmed cases of Covid-19 than China with 82,404 reported in the US and 81,782 in China. Italy is third with 80,589.
Updated
The West Midlands has seen another sharp rise in the number of coronavirus-related deaths after emerging as a UK hotspot for transmissions of the virus earlier this week.
Of the 115 new deaths reported across the UK in the latest update on Thursday, 40 were in the West Midlands. Eighteen people who died were being treated by the Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust, which has recorded the highest coronavirus death toll for any trust in the UK for the second time.
See the full story below:
Police in the US are taking a lead role in enforcing social distancing, Associated Press reports.
Officers in Lakewood, New Jersey, broke up a wedding being held in violation of a ban on large gatherings.
In New York City, police have been dismantling basketball hoops to prevent people from gathering in parks and playing.
And in Austin, Texas, officers are encouraging people to call a hotline to report violators of the city’s orders for people to stay home.
Ireland has reported another 10 deaths due to coronavirus, taking the total to 19.
Health officials on Thursday announced 255 more cases in the country, taking the total to 1,819.
Here’s a video showing more of the Clap for Carers applause in the UK. It took place at 8pm on Thursday in support of the heroic NHS workers helping to fight against coronavirus.
My girlfriend works in the ICU at Charing Cross - she didn’t think there would be any clapping - she was wrong #clapforNHS @BBCBreaking pic.twitter.com/mQMSHk6MST
— Ashley Moorman (@AshleyMoorman) March 26, 2020
Updated
People across the UK have taken part in a mass round of applause for the frontline NHS heroes who are risking their own lives battling the coronavirus pandemic.
The Clap For Carers initiative saw residents applauding from their doorsteps, windows and balconies at 8pm, with some venturing into the streets, and motorists joining in by tooting their horns. Others set off fireworks.
Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak took part in the applause while standing outside 10 Downing Street.
Meanwhile notable buildings were lit up in blue for the salute as part of the lightitblue campaign which has been organised by members of the events and entertainment industry as a way to say thank you.
The very emotional moment we heard clapping and cheering from our headquarters in Waterloo.
— London Ambulance Service #StayHomeSaveLives (@Ldn_Ambulance) March 26, 2020
Thank you all! 💚#clapfornhs #clapforourcarers #NHSHeroes pic.twitter.com/4yLNz4kLaO
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Authorities in Greece have given their strongest hint yet that the stringent restrictions enforced to curb the spread of coronavirus are likely to extend beyond 6 April.
The measures, as of Monday, have included a lockdown that with few exceptions has ordered residents to remain at home.
“If the measures are lifted the scenes we have seen in Italy will ensue,” the health ministry spokesman, Prof Sotiris Tsiodras, told reporters, announcing confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 892 – an increase of 71 overnight.
The death toll on Thursday stood at 26. Some 54 patients diagnosed with the novel virus are in intensive care.
Tsiodras, an expert in infectious diseases, said that while Greece appeared to be containing an explosion of the virus working its way through the population, the coming weeks were critical. “We have to continue to be vigilant even if we are not seeing an aggressive increase in cases in our country,” he said.
Had a very interesting conversation with @NAChristakis about our action plan for COVID-19 and our health system. We're basing our strategies on sound scientific advice, and Greece is very privileged to have such eminent scientists to call upon, wherever they may be. pic.twitter.com/vh3S4HpFKd
— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) March 23, 2020
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Turkey’s death toll from coronavirus increased by 16 to 75 on Thursday, as the number of confirmed cases rose by 1,196 to 3,629, health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said.
He said on Twitter that 7,286 tests had been conducted in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests carried out in Turkey to around 40,000.
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Costa Rica has recorded its largest single day rise in Covid-19 cases so far, rising by 30 to a total of 231. Two people have died in the pandemic.
Este es el reporte diario de datos del #COVID19 en Costa Rica. Somos fuente oficial de datos, síganos en todas nuestras redes sociales y nuestra página web https://t.co/R2U3Sg3IKJ #EstaEnTusManos pic.twitter.com/W4YVKNinCw
— Ministerio de Salud (@msaludcr) March 26, 2020
Costa Rica is battling the second largest outbreak of the disease in Central America behind Panama, which has imposed a 24 hour curfew. As of Wednesday evening, eight people had died and 558 cases had been recorded.
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Rio de Janeiro’s town hall is reportedly trying to convince elderly favela residents to abandon their homes and move into hotels in a bid to shield them from coronavirus.
The local newspaper O Globo reports that social workers have today been knocking on doors in Rocinha, one of Latin America’s largest favelas, and asking the elderly to move into temporary accommodation.
The town hall has reportedly rented 1,000 rooms in three hotels to house those people. They will not be able to receive visitors while there.
Rio’s densely populated redbrick favelas are home to about two million of the city’s seven million residents and often lack basic services such as sanitation and water. For that reason there are fears about the toll coronavirus could have on such areas. This week it emerged that gangs in some favelas had imposed curfews and were handing out soap in a bid to stop its spread. Favela activists are also promoting donation and awareness campaigns.
Police in the UK have defended using a drone to shame people into staying away from a national park during the lockdown.
Derbyshire police tweeted footage taken near Curbar Edge in the Peak District, insisting members of the public should not be driving there to walk their dogs or take photographs.
“It’s not Big Brother,” a spokesman said. “It’s just to illustrate the fact that people are going out and making these journeys against the government’s rules.”
Sam Jones and Ashifa Kassam have the latest from Madrid:
The Spanish government has defended its response to the coronavirus pandemic as the death rate in the country slowed for the first time in a week, insisting its actions have always been firmly rooted in scientific advice.
Spain recorded 655 deaths from Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 4,089, the health ministry said on Thursday. The number of confirmed cases stands at 56,188.
Updated
This from Toronto:
Prime minister Justin Trudeau says he is in talks with the White House to prevent what would be an unprecedented presence of troops on the US-Canada border.
“Canada and the United States have the longest un-militarised border in the world and it is very much in both of our interests for it to remain that way,” said Trudeau during his daily briefing on Thursday.
Plans to militarise the border – first reported by Global News – appears intended to target illegal border crossers from Canada who may be infected with the coronavirus. The concern is puzzling, however, given the dramatically higher rates of infection of the Covid-19 in the United States than in Canada.
New York state, which borders Canada, has more than 30,000 confirmed cases of the virus – nearly ten times the total of Canada.
Increasingly, a number of cases in Canada are coming from the United States, where many Canadians vacationed for spring break.
Both countries temporarily closed their 5,500 mile border to any non-essential travel last week in wake of the coronavirus outbreak, but have pledged to keep supply chains intact.
Bruce Heyman, a former US ambassador to Canada, condemned the proposal, calling it a “misuse of resources” on Twitter.
“So much needs to get done in protecting our health care workers, getting test kits and PPE, ramping up hospital beds and equipment. This would be a very dangerous and inappropriate use of US Troops,” he wrote.
Updated
A Wall Street rally powered global gains in stocks on Thursday despite a record number of new unemployment filings in the US, Reuters reports.
Traders focused on the unanimous passage of a $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill in the Senate and the possibility of more stimulus to come.
The legislation is intended to flood the country with cash in a bid to stem the crushing impact the outbreak has already had on the world’s largest economy. Nearly 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits over the past week, eclipsing the previous record of 695,000 set in 1982.
Updated
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has exempted churches from coronavirus lockdowns by classifying religious activity as an essential service, heeding requests from evangelical leaders.
Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist elected with massive support from evangelical voters in 2018 because of his conservative social views, has said publicly that churches should remain open because they are “the last shelter” for many people.
His executive decree, published in the official gazette on Thursday, contradicts measures taken by state governors and city mayors to ban religious assemblies.
Evangelical leaders welcomed the presidential decree as upholding the constitutional right of Brazilians to freedom of religion, which they said no governor or mayor could overrule.
“In this pandemic of panic, no hospital can calm people down, but religion can,” said Silas Malafaia, the leader of one of Brazil’s largest pentecostal churches, the Assembly of God, and a staunch backer of Bolsonaro from his pulpit.
Last week, Malafaia went to court over his plans to keep the church open, despite warnings that large gatherings will help spread the coronavirus.
Confirmed coronavirus cases in Brazil have quadrupled in less than a week to 2,433, according to health ministry data released on Wednesday, with 57 deaths.
Updated
Doctors in Zimbabwe’s public hospitals have gone on strike over a lack of protective gear guarding against coronavirus, joining thousands of nurses who walked out of the wards this week, their association said Thursday.
Tapiwa Mungofa, treasurer of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), told reporters in Harare most of the doctors across the country’s government hospitals were not at work.
Some 15,000 hospital nurses downed tools on Wednesday over a lack of protective gear and water shortages.
Egypt has reported 39 new coronavirus cases and three deaths, bringing the total number of infections to 495 including 24 fatalities, the health ministry said in a statement.
The new cases are all Egyptians who were in contact with other patients, with the exception of one Libyan man. The three dead are all Egyptians from Cairo, a 30-year-old woman and two men aged 78 and 72.
The statement added that 102 of the people infected had recovered and been released from a quarantine hospital.
Egypt on Tuesday declared a two-week curfew from 7pm to 6am to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The number of deaths from coronavirus in France has risen by 365 in 24 hours, from 1,331 to 1,696, according to health officials.
Jérome Salomon, director general of the French health service, said on Thursday there are now 29,155 confirmed cases in the country.
A 16-year-old in the Ile de France region is one of those to have died.
There are currently 13,904 people in hospital with Covid-19 of whom 3,375 are in intensive care. Of those, 34% are under 60 and 58% are aged between 60 and 80.
There have been 53 confirmed coronavirus cases in France’s overseas territories (Réunion, Martinique, Guadeloupe) of whom 21 are in intensive care, and two have died.
Salomon said 4,948 people who were confirmed as having the coronavirus had recovered.
Updated
Fashion brand Armani will start making single use medical overalls for hospital workers at all four of its Italian factories.
The group - whose brands include Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani - said they would be used for “the individual protection of healthcare workers engaged in the fight against the Coronavirus disease.”
Founder Giorgio Armani has donated 2 million euros in recent weeks to hospitals around Italy, including Bergamo and Piacenza in the hard-hit north, the company said.
Donald Trump said on Thursday his administration is preparing new coronavirus guidelines that would characterise US counties as high-risk, medium-risk or low-risk.
In a letter to governors, the president said state and local leaders could use the guidelines to determine social distancing and other coronavirus mitigation measures. The guidelines will aim “to help classify counties with respect to continued risks posed by the virus,” the letter said.
Italy’s northern Piedmont region said on Thursday that 50 people had died there from coronavirus in the last 24 hours, numbers which were omitted from the national tally released by the Civil Protection Agency because they arrived too late.
The omission means that daily deaths amounted to 712 on Thursday rather than the 662 officially reported, and marked an increase from the 683 registered the previous day.
Total deaths since the start of the outbreak are therefore 8,215, rather than the 8,165 reported.
UK records biggest daily rise in deaths
The number of people who have died from coronavirus in UK hospitals has risen by 115 in a single day to 578, as of 5pm on Thursday. It is the biggest daily rise in deaths across the country since the outbreak began.
As of 9am on Thursday, 11,658 out of 104,866 people who have been tested for the virus were confirmed as positive cases.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) testing in the UK:
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) March 26, 2020
As of 9am 26 March, a total of 104,866 have been tested:
93,208 negative.
11,658 positive.
As of 5pm on 25 March, of those hospitalised in the UK, 578 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/lHKa29lab7
Updated
Global job losses from the coronavirus crisis could far exceed the 25 million estimated just days ago, UN officials said on Thursday, as US jobless claims surged to record levels, showing the stark scale of the economic disaster.
The International Labour Organization, a UN agency, had estimated a week ago that, based on different scenarios for the impact of the pandemic on growth, the global ranks of the jobless would rise by between 5.3 million and 24.7 million.
However, Sangheon Lee, director of the ILO’s employment policy department, told Reuters in Geneva on Thursday that the scale of temporary unemployment, layoffs and the number of unemployment benefit claims was far higher than first expected.
“We are trying to factor the temporary massive shock into our estimate modelling. The magnitude of fluctuation is much bigger than expected,” he said.
Almost 3.3 million people in the US filed for unemployment last week, according to Department of Labor data. That is nearly five times more than the previous record of 695,000, set in 1982.
Updated
Hi, Sam Gelder here. I’m taking over the live blog from my colleague Ben Quinn. Please get in touch with any tips at sam.gelder.casual@theguardian.com.
More than half a million cases of Covid-19 – Johns Hopkins tracker
A grim milestone. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide has passed the half a million mark, according to the latest figures on the Johns Hopkins University global dashboard.
Cases stand at 510,108 while there have been 22,993 deaths.
Updated
The online rentals platform Airbnb announced on Thursday that it wants to expand globally a scheme currently running in France and Italy to provide free accommodation to medical professionals.
The company said it aimed to pair 100,000 healthcare professionals and first responders with hosts willing to provide their rental apartments for free use, and would waive all the fees it usually takes for bookings.
Fabio Calarco, the president of an association of Italian rental apartment hosts that is already running a programme together with Airbnb in Italy, said so far around 650 doctors had applied for the scheme.
“It’s really important right now to support those who are on the frontlines to save lives,” he said. He said the doctors and nurses involved were often those who had been posted to hospitals far from their homes.
People in tourist hotspots where many rental apartments are now sitting empty have already set up their own schemes to help doctors. Nora Balogh, who owns a short-term rental apartment in Budapest’s central sixth district, handed it over to a doctor who is a family friend and wanted to stay away from his family so as not to expose them if he got infected with coronavirus.
She realised there was demand, and set up a Facebook group to match apartments near hospitals to medical staff who need them. Currently, she has placed 48 doctors and nurses in apartments.
“At the beginning I was only getting two messages a day but today I received more than 20,” she said.
Updated
Some 232,470 people have been diagnosed with Covid -19 and 13,692 people have lost their lives across the European Economic Area and the UK, according to the latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The data was released on the day of an EU leaders’ summit. Ahead of the meeting, France, Italy and Spain and six other member states, called for “a common debt instrument” – in other words, a eurozone bond to raise funds for all member states. Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, called for the launch of European recovery bonds, telling the Italian Senate: “Europe would only be able to face the shock with extraordinary and exceptional measures.”
But Germany, the Netherlands and Austria oppose any shared debt.
The letter, which was also signed by Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia, said the coronavirus was an unprecedented shock to the economy.
“The case for such a common instrument is strong, since we are all facing a symmetric external shock, for which no country bears responsibility, but whose negative consequences are endured by all.”
Earlier in the day, the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, rebuked member states for “looking out for themselves” during the early phases of the crisis.
Taking an unusually critical tone, she said the story of the past few weeks had been partly a painful one. “When Europe really needed an all-for-one spirit, too many initially gave an only-for-me response.”
She was referring to export bans on critical medical goods, as well as the closure of borders, which have created massive delays in moving food and healthcare supplies around the bloc, especially in central Europe.
An internal report by Von der Leyen’s team lamented that transport had been paralysed by border closures, leading to lorries stuck in queues at EU internal borders for 24 hours. So far, only three countries have followed the commission’s advice to create “green lanes” (minimal checks) to speed up the traffic.
* We’re still waiting for a press conference by Von der Leyen and Charles Michel, president of the European council, to start.
Updated
Covid-19 threatens to 'tear us apart', G20 leaders told by WHO director
The leaders of the powerful G20 countries have been urged to unite to find joint solutions to the coronavirus pandemic and “ignite a new global movement” to ensure it never happens again.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, urged leaders “to fight without excuses, without regrets – thanking countries who have already taken steps and urgently asking that they do more”.
A WHO press statement issued in the last few minutes added that Ghebreyesus had told G20 leaders: “You have come together to confront the defining health crisis of our time: we are at war with a virus that threatens to tear us apart – if we let it.”
He also welcomed G20 leaders’ commitment “to do whatever it takes to overcome the pandemic” to protect lives and livelihoods, as well as restore confidence and shore up stability in trade and other sectors, and to commit to take all necessary health measures and seek to ensure adequate financing to contain the pandemic and protect people, especially the most vulnerable.“
As we reported earlier, the G20 issued a largely unspecific and uncontroversial joint communique which set no specific commitments such as deferring debt repayment to the world’s poorest countries, as sought by the World Bank and the IMF.
Updated
Ireland has found a readymade force in the fight against coronavirus: the postal service.
Postal workers have volunteered to check in on elderly and vulnerable people during their rounds, a potentially invaluable safeguard while such groups cocoon.
The employees suggested the idea to the Communications Workers’ Union, which took it to management and the government, who gladly accepted.
Postal workers are known and trusted by the people they serve, David McRedmond, the CEO of An Post, the Irish postal service, told a news conference.
“They’re going with a set of questions. Do they need food? Do they need pharmacy? Do they need to send out messages? And the postman or postwoman will take that back and we will look after that and make sure that gets fulfilled.”
An Post will take parcels and letters from vulnerable categories of people and deliver them for free. It will also deliver millions of blank postcards so those self-isolating at home can write to friends and relatives.
To combat misinformation, the government has published a booklet on coronavirus that will be sent to 2.2m households nationwide.
“There is a sense of national pride at the moment which is fantastic,” said the health minister, Simon Harris.
“Something weird is happening, everyone pulling together, everywhere. Look at the postmen and postwomen, calling in to check on vulnerable people on their rounds. They suggested this themselves. They approached their union and said they wanted to do this for free. Isn’t that just brilliant?”
#AnPost and Communications Workers' Union have announced a new community initiative which will see @Postvox delivery staff across #Ireland ‘checking-in’ with older and vulnerable people along their delivery route at least once a week https://t.co/NTCJRn85T5 #coronavirus #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/BFHWcR26Oy
— UniversalPostalUnion (@UPU_UN) March 26, 2020
Updated
Britain is beginning to see a “bite” into the upward curve of coronavirus cases as a result of recent interventions, including restrictions of groups gathering and social distancing by individuals, according to a senior UK health official.
“We are starting to see some helpful movements and what we will be looking for is a change in the slope,” said Dr Jenny Harries, one of two deputy chief medical officers.
Speaking alongside the UK’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, she told a press conference it was too early to predict when the peak of the outbreak could happen but she and others were starting to see “some helpful movements”.
“But we must not take our foot of the pedal. In the past few days the public have really understood that this is something very serious. It is starting to move in the right direction.”
Updated
Details of how a British scheme to support the self-employed are being announced at a press conference in London by Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the Exchequer.
The support package for self-employed people will cover 80% of average earnings over the past three years. He’s talking about musicians, taxi drivers, hairdressers and many more who, he says, fear losing their livelihoods through no fault of their own.
“You are not forgotten,” says Sunak. My colleague Andy Sparrow is liveblogging that announcement here.
Updated
There’s about to be a flood of news coming in, via press conferences from sources including the European commission, British government and the World Health Organization. Stand by.
Updated
G20 commit to 'whatever it takes' but make no specific pledges
Leaders of the G20 industrialised nations, meeting in a virtual video conference call, have committed to do “whatever it takes” to minimise the social and economic damage of the world-wide pandemic.
But a largely unspecific and uncontroversial joint communique set no specific commitments such as deferring debt repayment to the world’s poorest countries, as sought by the World Bank and the IMF.
The two-hour-long meeting agreed to assess gaps in pandemic preparedness and increase funding for research and development in funding for vaccines and medicines, an area in which the G20 has shown an active interest in the past.
However, an IMF call for a doubling of its funding to $2tn was not addressed specifically in the communique. The joint statement instead asserted G20 members had already undertaken a $5tn stimulus, through targeted fiscal policy and insurance schemes.
They would look to increase funding to multilateral bodies as required, and urged central bank governors in conjunction with finance ministers to draw up an action plan.
The 20 world leaders, representing 80% of the world’s GDP, have been criticised for failing to produce a quick response to the pandemic of the quality shown by world leaders at the time of the financial crash in 2007-08.
But in a communique issued afterwards they insisted they were united in their response saying they will use all available policy tools to minimise the economic and social damage from the pandemic, restore global growth, maintain market stability, and strengthen resilience.
In an assertion of the relevance of multilateralism the communique said The unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic is a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness and vulnerabilities. The virus respects no borders.
The Chinese president, Xi, locked in a growing propaganda battle with the US over the cause of the outbreak of the pandemic, focused in his remarks on US trade barriers rather than a domestic Chinese fiscal stimulus as the best rote to growth.
He urged G20 members to boost the reeling world economy by cutting tariffs, removing barriers and facilitating the unfettered flow of trade.
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Cheering and applause has greeted the start of a three-day lockdown in Dubai to pave the way for a massive sterilisation programme.
Ian Lacey, who works as a social media consultant with Unicef, captured the moments about half an hour ago.
Pots and pans, cheering, clapping, harmonicas and waves between neighbours at 8pm local time as Dubai and wider UAE closes down for three days as the government sets about a sterilisation campaign in the Emirates!#coronavirus #COVID19 #Dubai #StayHome pic.twitter.com/BUSoqbP9aB
— Ian Lacey (@ianwlacey) March 26, 2020
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In the Middle East, 184 new Coronavirus cases have been reported today in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Oman and Kuwait.
The Saudi health ministry announced 112 new cases on Thursday, pushing the total number of positive cases to 1,012 in the kingdom. A third death has also been reported.
In Lebanon, health officials said 35 more patients have been tested positive for Covid-19, brining the total number to 368.
The country will will begin an overnight shutdown from 7pm to 5am, with some exceptions to be announced later, as it steps up measures to combat coronavirus, the information minister, Manal Abdel Samad, said on Thursday, according to Al Arabia.
Bahrain announced 14 new Coronavirus cases, bringing the total number to 204.
Health officials in Oman said 10 new cases had been confirmed in the country, pushing the total to 109.
Five cases are linked with having close contact with people already confirmed to have Covid-19. Two cases are related to travel to Britain and three more are under investigation, the country’s health ministry said in a statement.
“With our commitment to health isolation and social distancing, we will ourselves, our families and our community from the spread of coronavirus,” Oman’s health ministry said in a statement.
Kuwait announced 13 new Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, increasing the total number of infections to 208.
The new cases include two Kuwaiti nationals who traveled to Saudi Arabia, two who travelled to Egypt, and one who travelled to France, according to the Kuwaiti health ministry.
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This is what the front of NHS Nightingale hospital, the facility being built at London’s ExCel conference centre, looks like.
Entrance to the NHS Nightingale Hospital at the ExCeL centre is ready. pic.twitter.com/ZGhki9jGh7
— Ted Jeory (@TedJeory) March 26, 2020
The centre will become an emergency hospital treating coronavirus patients “within days”, with 500 beds initially made available at what will be the first of several crisis facilities dotted around the UK.
The cavernous 100,000 sq metre Docklands site is being converted in a high-speed operation involving military planners and personnel, and its capacity will rise quickly from the initial 500 beds, defence sources said on Tuesday.
It is intended to deal with the expected surge in coronavirus patients with severe breathing difficulties for whom beds are unlikely be available in London’s overflowing intensive care units.
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An Italian man who is recovering from pneumonia caused by Covid-19 has been describing his experience after being released from intensive care.
Fausto Russo, 38, spoke via videolink from the Santa Maria Goretti hospital, in Latina, near Rome. He said it had been a lonely experience that had “changed his life” and warned that the virus “walks on the legs of people without symptoms”.
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China closes borders to foreign nationals from this weekend
China has announced it will close its border to foreign nationals from this weekend.
Other measures include restricting foreign airlines to a single route, with no more than one weekly flight. Each Chinese airline is permitted one route to any specific country with no more than one flight a week.
There’s more detail here on the website of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
We’ll be publishing more details shortly as we get them on that development.
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Two separate groups of Brazilian scientists said studies show the coronavirus is spreading more rapidly in Brazil than previously thought and stressed the importance of testing and social isolation.
Their comments contradicted Brazil’s far-right, anti-science president, Jair Bolsonaro – who has criticised “hysteria” over the virus and attacked lockdown measures he argued will damage Brazil’s struggling economy.
“BELIEVE IN SCIENCE! It can help us reduce suffering and save lives,” scientists from universities in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasília said in a statement. “STAY AT HOME.”
Computer modelling from Domingos Alves at the University of São Paulo showed “Covid-19 will advance in certain parts of Brazil more quickly than most predictions indicate” – especially São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the capital Brasília – the scientists said.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said Brazil’s confirmed cases represent 11% of the total infected, they noted, adding: “We are only seeing the tip of a big iceberg.”
Brazil has recorded 2,589 confirmed cases and 63 deaths.They also criticised the government’s decision to stop releasing numbers of suspected infections after an official site went offline on 21 March. Investigative agency Pública called the government’s failure to release numbers of suspected cases a “coronavirus black box”.
Another group of scientists sequenced the genome of the virus of 19 Brazilian patients and found mutations. This meant it has been here long enough and in sufficient quantities for alterations to be spotted, Rio’s O Globo newspaper reported.
“Our work reinforces the importance of social isolation and testing,” said Renato Santana from the University of Minas Gerais, one of the study’s coordinators.
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World leaders must collaborate to create vaccine - UK government
Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has called on governments around the world to work together to create a vaccine as quickly as possible and make it available to anyone who needs it.
Speaking after a virtual summit of G20 leaders, Johnson said that a race to find a vaccine for coronavirus will be boosted by £210m of new British aid funding.
The UK, like many other states, is channelling funding to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which is supporting the development of vaccines. It said earlier this month that it needed $2bn to do so.
The new British funding is the largest single contribution by any country to the key international fund to find a coronavirus vaccine, according to the UK government.
Johnson said in a statement: “While our brilliant doctors and nurses fight coronavirus at home, this record British funding will help to find a vaccine for the entire world. UK medics and researchers are at the forefront of this pioneering work.”
“My call to every G20 country and to governments around the world is to step up and help us defeat this virus.”
Today’s video call between G20 leaders also discussed international efforts to protect the global economy from the long-term effects of the virus.
A further £40m of new British funding will go towards to developing affordable treatments for coronavirus patients and will support the Therapeutic Accelerator, a fund for the rapid development of anti-retrovirals or immunotherapies against coronavirus.
The fund is already backed by the UK-based Wellcome Trust, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Mastercard.
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The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has proposed a moratorium on sanctions related to essential goods amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking a G20 video-summit, he also proposed creating a special fund under International Monetary Fund control to fight the spread of the virus.
This is Ben Quinn in London picking up the blog.
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IMF calls on G20 to double emergency funding
The International Monetary Fund on Thursday asked G20 leaders to back a doubling of its emergency financing capacity to strengthen its response to thecoronavirus pandemic that is set to cause a global recession in 2020.
In a statement to leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies, the managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said the depth of the economic contraction and the speed of the recovery depended on the containment of pandemic and “how strong and coordinated our monetary and fiscal policy actions are”.
She said:
We must act at par with the magnitude of the challenge. For this we ask your backing to:
Double our emergency financing capacity;
Boost global liquidity through a sizeable SDR (Special Drawing Right) allocation, as we successfully did during the 2009 global crisis and by expanding the use of swap type facilities at the Fund;
Support action of official bilateral creditors to ease the debt burden of our poorest members during the times of global downturn.
We will get through this crisis together. Together we will lay the ground for a faster and stronger recovery.
She said it was paramount to support emerging markets and developing economies, which were particularly hard hit by the crisis, sudden economic stops, capital flight and, for some, sharp drops in commodity prices.
.@KGeorgieva to #G20 Leaders: the human and economic challenge posed by #coronavirus is enormous. Emerging market and developing economies are particularly hard hit. They are the main focus of our attention. https://t.co/K1DNnAwpxt #G20VirtualSummit pic.twitter.com/hlv8OeFrwD
— IMF (@IMFNews) March 26, 2020
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The football club Real Madrid says it is working with the Spanish government to allow its famous Bernabéu stadium to store donations of medical supplies.
All of the stored supplies will be passed on to Spain’s health authorities, the club said in a statement.
El @RealMadrid y el @deportegob impulsan un gran centro de aprovisionamiento de material sanitario en el Santiago Bernabéu.#EsteVirusLoParamosUnidos | #YoMeQuedoEnCasahttps://t.co/7cKRQOKTEI
— Real Madrid C.F.⚽ (@realmadrid) March 26, 2020
Spain has seen more than 4,000 deaths due to the coronavirus, more than half of which have been in Madrid.
Healthcare workers at the frontlines of some hospitals in the region have shared stories of overwhelmed hospital wards that are near collapse, while a shortage of protective gear has left them crafting shields out of garbage bags.
Earlier this week, officials in Madrid announced that an ice skating rink at a shopping centre would be used as a temporary morgue after a surge in cases.
The Romanian writer and anti-communist dissident Paul Goma has died in Paris after contracting coronavirus. Goma, 84, was admitted to hospital a week ago and died in the early hours of Wednesday, his biographer told Romanian media outlets.
Born in 1935, Goma first caught the attention of communist Romania’s notorious secret police in 1952 while still at school, and he was in and out of prison for the next 25 years. In 1977, he wrote an angry open letter to the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.
He was subsequently arrested, but was later allowed to leave Romania for Paris with his wife and son. Goma had lived in the French capital ever since. He published a large number of novels and short story collections throughout his life, many about the experience of life under totalitarianism. Some of his later work was criticised for antisemitism.
He was taken to the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris on 18 March, tested positive for coronavirus, and died in the early hours of Wednesday, Romanian news outlets reported.
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Row over coronavirus contributes to Kosovo government collapse
A domestic power struggle, disputes over how best to tackle coronavirus and a split between US and European foreign policy have all combined to bring down the government in Kosovo, plunging the country into constitutional chaos just when it should be devising a response to the pandemic.
The government of Albin Kurti lost a no-confidence vote brought by one of its own coalition partners late on Wednesday evening, by 82 votes to 32, with one abstention. It came after a tempestuous 12-hour debate in parliament.
In Kosovo, there was disbelief at the timing of the move. In recent days, residents have taken to banging pots and pans on their balconies to express their disgust at the timing of the political upheaval.
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A group of Britons stranded in Peru will miss rescue flights put on by the Foreign Office after two travellers at the hostel they are staying in tested positive for coronavirus.
Around 140 guests in the Pariwana hostel in Cusco, including nine British citizens and one Irish one, have been told they could be quarantined for up to three months and will now be confined to their rooms for 23 hours a day.
Failure to comply could result in imprisonment, the Peruvian authorities have told them.
Local officials have revoked an order banning sales of alcoholic drinks in a department in northern France.
In an effort to reduce the risk of domestic violence and stop youngsters gathering on the streets, the prefect in the Aisne banned sales of alcohol in all local shops until the end of March.
On Monday, Ziad Khoury issued a decree halting sales of all alcoholic drinks and ordering stores to shut at 8pm citing a wish to avoid “excessive consumption of alcohol which results in a growing risk of trouble and violence, notably within families”.
Zhoury said he had been warned by the police and gendarmes about the risks of domestic violence during the enforced lockdown.
Twenty-four hours later, Khoury rescinded the order.
“Following discussions with addiction specialists about certain negative consequences of such a general, even very temporary, measure, the prefect has decided to postpone this decision while waiting for a wider evaluation of possible measures in this area,” the prefecture said in a statement.
The rate of coronavirus deaths in Spain has slowed for the first time in a week as the global number of confirmed coronavirus cases approached half a million.
Spain recorded 655 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total there to 4,089, the health ministry said on Thursday. The number of confirmed cases in Spain stood at 56,188.
The numbers offer a glimmer of hope a day after the country recorded the world’s highest one-day national death toll of the pandemic to date – 738 – and its total number of deaths eclipsed that of China.
Spain’s health minister, Salvador Illa, said the data should be read with caution but could mean Spain had entered a “phase of stablisation”. He said: “The number of reported cases could be reaching its peak.”
Italy remains the hardest-hit country with 7,503 deaths. For four consecutive days the country’s infection rate had slowed, a trend the World Health Organization’s Europe director, Hans Kluge, described as encouraging.
The number of coronavirus infections worldwide has reached almost 500,000.
The number of confirmed coronavirus deaths in the Netherlands has risen by 78 to 434.
The Netherlands National Institute for Health (RIVM) also reported the the number of infections increased by 1,019, or 16%, to 7,431,
“The number of patients in hospital and the number of deaths is rising less quickly than you would expect if no measures (to slow the spread of the virus) had been taken,” the RIVM said.
“This could possibly point to the measures having had an influence on the speed of the spread of the virus.” It said it expected to be able to say with more certainty by the end of this week.
The Dutch government ordered social distancing measures, school closures and a ban on public gathering over the course of several days in mid March.
Romania’s minister of health, Victor Costache, has resigned a day after saying on national television that every resident of Bucharest, the Romanian capital, would be tested for coronavirus, with teams going door-to-door to administer the tests, writes Kit Gillet.
“I regret his resignation, on the other hand I understand it and I thank the minister,” Prime Minister Ludovic Orban announced in a press statement.
According to local media reports, Costache was asked to resign by Orban following his statement on Wednesday evening. It comes at a time when there is growing concern in the country over the shortage of safety and medical equipment in hospitals, as well as criticism over the limited testing capacity for the virus.
Bucharest has more than two million residents, while the country has so far been able to conduct only around 2,000 tests a day, though it is hoping to ramp that up in the coming period.
Romania’s government has tightened restrictions on movement in recent days, following concerns over the growing number of coronavirus cases in the country. People are now only allowed out of their homes to commute to work, buy necessities, or a few other basic reasons, and require documentation to explain their movements. Over 5,600 people were fined during the first day of the new restrictions on Wednesday.
As of Thursday afternoon, Romania had 1,029 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 17 fatalities. A further 11 Romanians have died abroad from the virus.
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France begins evacuating patients by high-speed train
France has begun evacuating coronavirus patients from Alsace using a special high-speed train. About 20 patients were taken from Strasbourg to hospitals in the Pays-de-la-Loire and other regions. The move is aimed at relieving pressure on hospitals overwhelmed in Alsace.
VIDEO: COVID-19 patients are to be transported by specially-equipped high-speed train in France's Alsace region, where hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of cases. The patients will be transferred by train to regions where hospitals have greater spare capacity pic.twitter.com/QJmim8hNsr
— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 26, 2020
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Reader Michael Cosgrove alerts us to some extraordinary drone footage of the empty streets of Lyon, France’s third largest city.
Update: And here’s similar footage of a deserted Frankfurt.
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Egypt forces journalist to leave after coronavirus story
Egyptian authorities have forced a Guardian journalist to leave the country after she reported on a scientific study that said Egypt was likely to have many more coronavirus cases than have been officially confirmed.
Ruth Michaelson, who has lived in and reported from Egypt since 2014, was advised last week by western diplomats that the country’s security services wanted her to leave immediately after her press accreditation was revoked and she was asked to attend a meeting with authorities about her visa status.
On Sunday 15 March, Michaelson had reported on research by infectious disease specialists from the University of Toronto as well as public health data and news stories that pointed to Egypt having a higher rate of coronavirus cases than the number confirmed by the government.
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Nicola Davis speaks to Dr Ian Bailey about the current guidance on taking ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs during a Sars-CoV-2 infection.
Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has called for its current leader, Jair Bolsonaro, to resign or be impeached because of his botched handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Speaking on a social media broadcast, Lula said: “I think we’re in a very tricky situation because Bolsonaro doesn’t have the psychological stature to carry on governing Brazil. Either this fellow resigns or he is impeached - something has to happen - because it’s not possible that someone can be so irresponsible as to play with the lives of millions of people like he’s doing.”
Bolsonaro is facing growing criticism for his response to coronavirus, which has so far claimed at least 59 lives in Brazil and infected more than 2,500 people. Bolsonaro has repeatedly dismissed the illness as a fantasy and media “hysteria”.
However, despite Lula’s call for impeachment, political specialists believe most members of the opposition oppose such an attempt to unseat Brazil’s far-right president fearing - as was the case in the United States with Donald Trump - that it would allow him to pose as the victim of a political conspiracy.
In an article published earlier this week the Brazilian commentator and former communications minister Thomas Traumann said many Bolsonaro opponents believed it was better to let Bolsonaro destroy his political career by himself.
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake,” he wrote, quoting Napoleon Bonaparte.
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European Union member states have been rebuked by Brussels for only “looking out for themselves” in the early phases of the coronavirus crisis.
Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European commission, told the European parliament that too many countries had failed to help their neighbours when the virus first struck Europe. She referred to export bans on critical medical equipment, as well as the closure of borders, which created delays in moving food and medical supplies around the bloc. She said:
The story from the last few weeks is partly a painful one to tell. When Europe really needed to be there for each other, too many initially looked out for themselves. When Europe really needed an all-for-one spirit, too many initially gave an only-for-me response. And when Europe really needed to prove that this is not only a fair weather union, too many initially refused to share their umbrella.
A crisis without borders cannot be resolved by putting barriers between us and yet this is exactly the first reflex that many European countries have.
The speech, made hours before a conference call summit of EU leaders on Thursday, was a shift in tone from the head of the EU executive, who has so far praised EU countries’ “solidarity”.
Von der Leyen said Europe was now “stepping up”, pointing to Germany’s decision to bring French and Italian patients to German hospitals, as well as similar help offered by Luxembourg to France.
The crisis is likely to expose deep fault lines in the eurozone, with some northern European countries reluctant to embrace common debt that many experts deem necessary to assist struggling economies in the south.
Nine EU leaders, including heads of government in France, Italy and Spain, on Wednesday issued a call for “a common debt instrument” - in other words, a bond to raise money funds for member states.
Von der Leyen was speaking to MEPs, shortly before the European parliament voted on emergency measures to boost the European economy during the coronavirus crisis. MEPs have been encouraged to stay away and in a historic first can vote online.
The European parliament meeting in the time of coronavirus to vote on three emergency laws (releasing EU funds and relaxing airport slot rules).
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) March 26, 2020
MEPs have been discouraged from attending in person and most voting electronically. pic.twitter.com/JToX5QKSQd
Updated
Summary
WHO sees ‘encouraging signs’ in Europe
The World Health Organization says it is encouraged by the lower rate of new infection in Italy. Its regional director, Hans Kluge, said: “While the situation remains very serious, we are starting to see some encouraging signs. Italy, which has the highest number of cases in the region, has just seen a slightly lower rate of increase.”
Slower rise in deaths reported in Spain
Spain has announced a further 655 coronavirus fatalities, taking the country’s total to more than 4,000. As the increase is below the daily rise recorded on Wednesday it offers support to government claims that the rise is deaths in Spain is stabilising.
India announces stimulus package
India has announced a 1.7tn-rupee (£18.9bn) economic stimulus plan to millions of people affected by a nationwide lockdown. “We do not want anyone to remain hungry,” said the finance minister. He said the government aims to distribute 5 kilograms of staple foodgrains wheat or rice for each person free of cost, with a kilogram of pulses for every low-income family, helping to feed about 800 million poor people over the next three months.
Iran posts record rise in cases
The health ministry confirmed another 157 deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking Iran’s total to 2,234 fatalities. A record 2,389 new cases had been recorded over the same period. Five days ago, the numbers being infected daily was below 900.
Moscow shuts down as Russia bans flights
Moscow has announced it will close restaurants, bars, parks, and shops other than grocery stores and pharmacies. It came as Russia posted record growth for confirmed coronavirus cases for the second day in a row. Russia now has 840 cases, a rise of 182 in 24 hours. The Kremlin has halted all international air traffic, both for airlines and charter flights, excluding flights repatriating Russian citizens to the country.
US deaths exceed 1,000 as Senate approves $2.2tn package
US deaths from the coronavirus pandemic have topped 1,000. Worldwide, the death toll climbed past 21,000, according to a running count kept by Johns Hopkins University, and the US had 1,046 deaths and nearly 70,000 infections. The US Senate passed a $2.2tn emergency relief package marking the biggest rescue deal of its kind in US history.
Only new imported cases reported in China
China reported no new locally transmitted cases for the second day in a row. Mainland China did, however, report an increase in the number of new confirmed coronavirus cases, all of which involved travellers arriving from abroad. Almost one in five coronavirus cases in Singapore are among people who travelled from London.
WTO warns the economic downturn will be worse than 2008
The economic downturn and job losses caused by the pandemic is likely to be worse than the 2008 recession, according to World Trade Organization projections.
Updated
WHO sees 'encouraging signs' in Europe
The World Health Organization’s European regional director says it is seeing “encouraging signs” after Italy reported a lower rate of infections of coronavirus, AFP reports.
Hans Kluge told a press conference:
While the situation remains very serious, we are starting to see some encouraging signs. Italy, which has the highest number of cases in the region, has just seen a slightly lower rate of increase, though it is still too early to say that the pandemic is peaking in that country.
He was speaking before Spain also announced a lower rise of deaths.
WHO Europe said that to date more than 220,000 cases of Covid-19 had been reported on the continent, along with 11,987 deaths.
That means that globally, roughly six out of every 10 cases and seven out of 10 deaths have been reported in Europe, with more than 400,000 confirmed infections worldwide.
As coronavirus has spread across the continent, many European countries have adopted severe measures to curb the outbreak, including imposing lockdown measures and closing businesses and borders, as well as limiting public gatherings.
According to Kluge, they will soon be able to determine the degree to which those measures have had an impact.
But Kluge also cautioned governments and citizens to be aware of the “new reality” created by the pandemic and prepare for the long term impact. “This is not going to be a sprint, this is going to be a marathon,” Kluge said.
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Slower rise in deaths reported in Spain as toll passes 4,000
Spain has announced another 655 fatalities from the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, but the figure is below the daily rise recorded on Wednesday.
The latest figures, announced by the health ministry, take Spain’s death toll to more than 4,000.
The latest figures offer support to government claims that the daily rise in number of deaths might be stabilising. On Wednesday, Fernando Simón, head of Spain’s health emergency centre, said: “If we are not already at the peak, we are very close.”
The overall number of coronavirus cases increased to 56,188 from 47,610 on Wednesday. The number of reported deaths from the virus rose to 4,089 from 3,434 on Wednesday, the ministry said.
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Lebanon is set to extend a countrywide lockdown by two weeks until 12 April to combat the spread of coronavirus, Reuters reports.
Lebanon has recorded 333 cases of coronavirus, which has caused six deaths in the country so far.
A request to extend the lockdown was agreed at a meeting of the supreme defence council on Thursday attended by senior officials including the president, prime minister, the health minister and the army chief. The meeting was followed by a cabinet session.
Lebanon declared a state of medical emergency on 15 March, urging people to stay at home and ordering the closure of most public and private establishments. Beirut airport is closed.
The EU’s border management agency has produced striking map of Europe highlighting the level of travel restrictions in each country. Where a mode of travel is restricted, it is highlighted in red.
Our analysts have come up with a very useful map to track the temporary restrictions put in place throughout the EU, Schengen Area and the UK to deal with #COVID19 #stayathome pic.twitter.com/3D5kCPYAt4
— Frontex (@Frontex) March 26, 2020
A 46-year-old army officer has died in northern Greece bringing the total number of fatalities in the country to 23. He succumbed to the virus after testing positive last Friday, but is believed to have had underlying health issues.
His death, a month after Greek authorities confirmed the first case of the novel virus, comes as health ministry officials say the virus has infected 841 people across 34 regions nationwide.
On Wednesday, the government placed the mountain town of Echinos (population 3,000) in the region of Thrace, in north-eastern Greece, under strict quarantine after nine cases were reported in the community – including a 66-year-old who died from Covid-19 yesterday. The police and fire brigade have been tasked with delivering food and other essentials to residents who have been ordered to remain at home for the next two weeks.
Greek health authorities predict the next week will be pivotal in understanding whether emergency measures first enforced to curb the spread of the virus have been effective.
Greece’s centre-right government was among the first in Europe to implement a partial lockdown, closing schools on 10 March and cafes, bars and eateries on 13 March.
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India announces stimulus package
India has announced a 1.7tn-rupee (£18.9bn) economic stimulus plan to millions people, hit by a nationwide lockdown over a coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.
People queued in some cities for essential items, with trucks stranded at state borders and public transport suspended two days after the prime minister, Narendra Modi, ordered the 21-day lockdown to protect a population of 1.3 billion.
“We do not want anyone to remain hungry, so we will be giving them enough to take care of food grain requirements and protein requirements, in terms of pulses,” the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, told a news briefing.
India has recorded 649 virus infections and 13 deaths.
Thursday’s package would tackle the welfare concerns of the poor and suffering workers, and those who need immediate help, Sitharaman added.
The government aims to distribute 5 kilograms of staple foodgrains wheat or rice for each person free of cost, with a kilogram of pulses for every low-income family, helping to feed about 800 million poor people over the next three months.
It also aims to hand out free cooking gas cylinders to 83 million poor families, in addition to direct cash transfers to 200 million women and the elderly, over a similar period.
The government outlined plans for medical insurance cover of 5 million rupees for every frontline health worker, from doctors, nurses and paramedics to those involved in sanitary services.
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Iran confirms 157 more deaths and record increase in infections
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, announced plans for a $35 fine for any Iranian breaching new social distancing laws, adding anyone found driving a car outside their town of residence will have their car confiscated for a month.
The move came as the health ministry confirmed another 157 deaths from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking Iran’s total to 2,234 fatalities. A record 2,389 new cases had been recorded over the same period. Five days ago the numbers being infected daily was below 900.
The central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmat, also announced that he is planning to withdraw $1bn from the national development fund to help ease the burden of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy and health sector.
Businesses that do not sack their staff are to be given low interest loans from a pool of over $4.7bn over the next two years. The move suggests that Iran knows the US is blocking a request to the IMF for $5bn loan. Official statistics are showing a sudden increase in both deaths and numbers infected.
The lockdown, long demanded by provinces that fear infection from Tehran and Qom, will ban any driver from a town in which are not registered as resident. Licence plate and national insurance number acting as proof of the driver’s residency. Only some certified traffic carrying fuel, food and health supplies will be allowed to use roads for deliveries
Other moves include closing most parks, swimming pools and public spaces. All gatherings, formal or informal, are banned including weddings.
Punishments including 500,000 toman fine (about £30) and 1 month confiscation of vehicles if anyone is found trying to enter a city in which they are not domiciled. The new laws led to major traffic queues outside Iran’s major cities.
Those who are on trips should immediately return home, the new orders state. Shops who remain open without permission will be sealed for up to 1 months.
Small and big grocery and supermarkets can be kept open, and roughly a third of the government payroll will be kept in work. Schools and universities will remain closed indefinitely.
The Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said if the Iranian public finally co-operated with the new plans the disease can be brought under control within a fortnight. The new laws will be a test for the authority of the Iranian government, and its ability to maintain order.
Repeated pleas by officials for Iranians not to use the new year holidays as an opportunity to travel were ignored, and the numbers catalogued as infected has risen sharply in the past four days.
Updated
As we mentioned earlier deaths in the US from coronavirus have exceeded 1,000, according to figures released on Wednesday. AP has a write up on the latest global statistics.
US deaths from the coronavirus pandemic have topped 1,000, in another grim milestone for a global outbreak that is taking lives and wreaking havoc on economies and established routines of ordinary life.
Worldwide, the death toll climbed past 21,000, according to a running count kept by Johns Hopkins University, and the US had 1,046 deaths and nearly 70,000 infections.
Spain’s death toll has risen past 3,400, eclipsing that of China, where the virus was first detected in December, and is now second only to that of Italy, which has 7,500. Lidia Perera, a nurse at Madrid’s 1,000-bed Hospital de la Paz, said more workers were desperately needed. We are collapsing,” Perera said.
The Spanish parliament voted to allow the government extend strict stay-at-home rules and business closings until 11 April.
Such measures are becoming increasingly common in the U.S., where New York is the center of the domestic outbreak, accounting for more than 30,000 cases and close to 300 deaths, most of them in New York City.
Public health officials in the city hunted down beds and medical equipment and called for more doctors and nurses for fear the number of sick patients will overwhelm hospitals as has happened in Italy and Spain.
A makeshift morgue was set up outside Bellevue Hospital, and the city’s police, their ranks dwindling as more fall ill, were told to patrol nearly empty streets to enforce social distancing.
Russia’s travel ban has put an end to one of the only major sporting events that was still going ahead, journalist Leon Watson points out.
The Candidates chess tournament, the final eliminator before the world championship, started last week with organisers boasting it would carry on through the pandemic.
But with flights in and out of Russia now banned, the chess governing body Fide feared the eight players competing would find themselves unable to return home and marooned in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
A spokesman from the online broadcaster Chess24.com, which was covering the event live, said: “This is hugely disappointing for everyone in chess. The Candidates was the only sporting event on and we had seen record traffic on our site.
“At one point we had a 50% spike in viewers as people around the world tuned in. We’ll have to just play online more now!”
Updated
Iran: 157 more people have died of coronavirus in 24 hours
Iran’s health ministry has announced the country’s death toll from the virus has increased by 157 in the last 24 hours to 2,234, according to the semi-official Fars News agency.
It also said the number of infections has increased by 2,389 cases to 29,406.
Iran is the sixth worst-hit country in terms of infections, according to a tracker by Johns Hopkins University.
وزارت بهداشت: در ۲۴ ساعت اخیر ۲۳۸۹ مورد مبتلای جدید به کرونا داشتیم که ۱۵۷ نفرشان فوت کردند. تعداد کل مبتلایان به کرونا در کشور به ۲۹۴۰۶ نفر و تعداد کل قربانیان به ۲۲۳۴ نفر افزایش یافت. مجموع بهبود یافتگان هم ۱۰۴۵۷ نفر هستند. pic.twitter.com/DTUi6nkYjK
— خبرگزاری فارس (@FarsNews_Agency) March 26, 2020
Updated
The government in Zambia, where there have been 12 confirmed coronavirus cases, has announced a partial shutdown, reader Sean Edington reports.
The government is restricting gatherings to no more than 50 people, from midnight and closing bars and restaurants.
The biggest issue here is poverty. With so many people living day by day, the government is reluctant to close down the markets.
Our primary industry here in Livingstone, is tourism, which has obviously taken a massive hit. We are closing down and hoping that this doesn’t sweep through our health care system.
There is still a strong sense of disbelief among our community about Corona. With rumours everywhere about who and whom can be infected.
All we can do is sit tight and hope for the best.
Updated
Moscow has announced it will close restaurants, bars, parks, and shops other than grocery stores and pharmacies as Russia posted record growth for confirmed coronavirus cases for the second day in a row.
The lockdown resembles closures in European countries that seemed unthinkable until this month, and have now become part of an established response to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
In an online post, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin also ordered the closure of some government offices, urged Muscovites not to visit religious sites, and asked other Russians not to visit the capital during a planned nationwide holiday next week. The government has also halted all international air traffic, both for airlines and charter flights, excluding flights repatriating Russian citizens to the country.
Russia posted its largest single day gain of confirmed cases on Thursday, with 182 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s total to 840. Three people have died of complications from the virus, according to official data, although critics suspect that other cases may have been misidentified as pneumonia.
While Moscow still has not yet endured the kinds of outbreaks that have taken place in cities in China, western Europe, and now in New York, the city’s mayor has warned President Vladimir Putin that the official tally of cases was far too low and that a “serious situation was developing” in the country’s capital.
Putin, in a nationwide address on Wednesday, delayed a vote on constitutional amendments that would allow him to remain in the Kremlin until 2036, and announced that next week would be a national holiday, urging Russians to stay at home. He stopped short of ordering a state of emergency or mandatory quarantine, however, raising concerns that Russians would treat the following week as a holiday.
“This is nonsense,” the editor-in-chief of the independent TV Rain wrote on Twitter. “Declare a weeklong holiday and recommend everyone sit at home. That means that everyone will go outside.”
The US has agreed on a $2tn stimulus package, the largest economic stimulus in US history, in response to the economic impacts of Covid-19. While corporations will be the biggest recipients of the bailout, some of that money will be paid directly to Americans hit by the pandemic.
Find out what we know about how the new stimulus package will directly affect Americans in the coming weeks.
Updated
In the UK, hospital car parking charges are to be waived for all NHS and social care staff in England while they tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
Our UK coronavirus live blog has that and all the other UK related developments.
Almost one in five of Covid-19 infections in Singapore are among people who have travelled from the UK, according to official figures.
The figures show that of the 631 people in Singapore who have tested positive, 121 had travelled from the UK.
Singapore has banned short term visitors to enter or transit through the country.
UK prisoner dies of Covid-19
An 84-year-old man has become the first British prisoner to die after contracting coronavirus.
The inmate, at HMP Littlehey, a category C male sex offenders’ prison in Cambridgeshire, died in hospital on Sunday. He reportedly had underlying health issues.
A Prison Service spokesman said: “An 84-year-old prisoner at HMP Littlehey died in hospital on 22 March. Our thoughts are with his family at this time.
“As with all deaths in custody, there will be an independent investigation by the prisons and probation ombudsman.”
In Finland, the government has announced that the entire region around the capital, Helsinki, is to be isolated from the rest of the country, reader Jim Oliver points out.
More than half of the 880 reported confirmed coronavirus in Finland infections are in this region.
One of the three reported fatalities due to coronavirus died in the city of Hameenlinna, 100km north of Helsinki.
The move comes after the director general of Finland’s institute for health and welfare, Markku Tervahauta, conceded that the true number of infections in Finland could up to 30 times higher than the confirmed cases.
Updated
The G7 group of wealthy nation has blocked a US attempt to use the phrase “Wuhan virus” in joint statement, according to CNN.
“What the State Department has suggested is a red line,” a European diplomat said. “You cannot agree with this branding of this virus and trying to communicate this.” The proposed draft statement by the United States also blamed China for the pandemic’s spread, the diplomat told CNN.
Although the World Health Organization officially has dubbed the illness Covid-19 or coronavirus, a 12-paragraph draft statement circulated by the US among the G7 ministers referred to it as the “Wuhan virus.”
Because the US holds the presidency for the international coalition -- which also includes the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada -- it was responsible for penning the draft joint statement. As a result, several of the member nations released their own statements following the foreign ministers’ meeting, which was held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the G20 major economies will hold an emergency video-conference summit to discuss the coronavirus pandemic, but hopes of a coordinated global response remain low.
Updated
Russia: Moscow to close all shops except food stores
Moscow will close all shops except for pharmacies and grocery stores, the city’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said, according to Reuters.
This measure, which also includes the closure of restaurants, cafes and bars, will last from 28 March until 5 April, Sobyanin said in a statement.
Updated
Afghanistan has reported five new positive cases of Coronavirus in last 24 hours, pushing the total number in the country to 84, including four members of Nato forces and two foreign diplomats.
Four of the new cases are in the western province of Herat, raising the total number of infections in Afghanistan’s worst affected area to 58.
Herat neighbours Iran, one of the world’s worst-hit countries. The Afghan government announced a partial curfew in three provinces sharing a border with Iran. The heath ministry warned that if the situation worsens a curfew will also be announced in the capital, Kabul.
Afghanistan has reported two deaths from Covid-19 so far.
Updated
The UK government has insisted that Prince Charles did not get preferential treatment by getting a coronavirus test before many NHS workers.
Speaking to Sky News, the health minister, Edward Argar, said the prince “did not jump the queue” when he was tested positive for the virus.
Asked why the prince had received a test while NHS frontline workers had not, he said: “My understanding is that his symptoms, his condition, met that criteria.”
He added:
We’ve already done over 97,000 tests at the moment. That’s one of the highest figures around the world. But there is clearly more to do. We’re ramping up the capacity to do those tests as fast as we can. Key workers, frontline NHS and social care workers, are at front of the queue for that.”
The Prince of Wales didn’t jump the queue, we are focused on making sure that we ramp up those tests around the country for our frontline workers.
This is Matthew Weaver picking up the global coronavirus live blog. We’ll be launching a UK coronavirus blog in the next couple of hours. Please send any developments that you think we may have missed from your part of the world to matthew.weaver@theguardian.com or tweet me @matthew_weaver
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan. I leave you today with these lyrics from a new coronavirus song by Uganda’s Bobi Wine (very good for washing hands to): “The bad news is that everyone is a potential victim. But the good news is that everyone is a potential solution.”
My colleague Matthew Weaver will be steering you through the most important global developments in the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours.
Summary
- The US Senate passed a $2.2tn emergency relief package as the coronavirus pandemic devastates the economy, marking the biggest rescue deal of its kind in US history.
- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases globally is likely to reach half a million within days, the latest Johns Hopkins University figures show, as Italy’s cases edge closer to overtaking those in China. The total number of confirmed cases worldwide is 471,783.
- China reported no new locally transmitted cases for the second day in a row. Mainland China did, however, report an increase in the number of new confirmed coronavirus cases, all of which involved travellers arriving from abroad.
- The governor of Tokyo, Japan, has asked the city’s residents to stay at home this weekend to avoid an “explosion” of Covid-19 infections following a rise in the number of local cases.
- Coronavirus measures could cause global food shortages, the UN warned. Protectionist measures by national governments during the coronavirus crisis could provoke food shortages around the world, according to FAO.
- The economic downturn and job losses caused by the pandemic is likely to be worse than the 2008 recession, according to World Trade Organization projections.
- Frontline medical workers in New York braced for a surge in the number of patients, with the state at the centre of the coronavirus pandemic in the US.
- Singapore is heading for a deep recession, data shows. Singapore has suffered its biggest economic slump for a decade, according to preliminary growth figures for the first three months of the year.
- Hong Kong is experiencing a surge in infections after thousands of residents rushed back amid global border closures and lockdowns, but epidemiologists have noted community transmissions remain low. Hong Kong reported a further 24 confirmed cases on Wednesday, bringing the region’s total to 410.
- The Russian government has grounded international flights to and from Russia from 27 March, the government said on its website.
- Thailand barred entry into the kingdom late on Wednesday, enacting sweeping emergency powers in a bid to stem the local spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
- Mexico’s federal government will suspend all non-essential activities beginning on Thursday, Mexico’s deputy health minister, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, told reporters.
- The global death toll passed 21,000. In all, 21,152 people have died as a result of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The institution says there have been at least 451,355 cases around the world, while 112,982 people have recovered.
- In Australia, two staff members at a New South Wales prison hospital tested positive for Covid-19, and two cruise ships off the coast of western Australia have been told to “immediately” leave Australian waters.
Updated
Men are much more likely to die from coronavirus - but why?
It has been well-publicised that Covid-19 discriminates by age and by underlying health conditions. But it has become increasingly apparent that it also discriminates by sex, with men more likely to test positive and more likely to die from the disease.
Early on, smoking was suggested as a likely explanation. In China, nearly 50% of men but only about 2% of women smoke, and so underlying differences in lung health were assumed to contribute to men suffering worse symptoms and outcomes.
However, there is a growing belief among experts that more fundamental biological factors are also at play. While there are higher proportions of male smokers in many countries – in Italy, about 28% of men and 19% of women smoke – the differences are nowhere near as extreme as in China. But men continue to be overrepresented in Covid-19 statistics.
Gordon Brown says world leaders should create temporary global government
Former British prime minister Gordon Brown has urged world leaders to create a temporary form of global government to tackle the twin medical and economic crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The former Labour prime minister, who was at the centre of the international efforts to tackle the impact of the near-meltdown of the banks in 2008, said there was a need for a taskforce involving world leaders, health experts and the heads of the international organisations that would have executive powers to coordinate the response.
A virtual meeting of the G20 group of developed and developing countries, chaired by Saudi Arabia, will be held on Thursday, but Brown said it would have been preferable to have also included the UN security council.
Bernie Sanders, addressing his supporters by livestream, just praised Rishi Sunak’s 80% wages scheme. “What is going on in the UK is the proper approach... that is the direction we should have gone here.”
— Henry Zeffman (@hzeffman) March 25, 2020
Strange times, strange bedfellows.
Have questions, or seen news I may have missed? You can get in touch with me directly with tips, requests or jokes on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Updated
In the UK, the coronavirus crisis has led to a drop in recorded crime, by as much as 20% in some areas.
The Guardian’s Vikram Dodd and Helen Pidd report that offences such as burglary and violence were down last week compared with the previous seven days, after Boris Johnson made his first request for people to stay home on the Monday.
The fall this week could be even larger after the prime minister changed his pleas for social distancing into an order to stay inside.
In one force, Durham, rated by inspectors as one of the best in England, the drop in crime was 20%. Officers recorded an average of 130 crimes a day, as opposed to an average of 165 the previous week.
Coronavirus measures could cause global food shortage, UN warns
Protectionist measures by national governments during the coronavirus crisis could provoke food shortages around the world, the UN’s food body has warned.
Harvests have been good and the outlook for staple crops is promising, but a shortage of field workers brought on by the virus crisis and a move towards protectionism – tariffs and export bans – mean problems could quickly appear in the coming weeks, Maximo Torero, chief economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, told the Guardian.
“The worst that can happen is that governments restrict the flow of food,” he said. “All measures against free trade will be counterproductive. Now is not the time for restrictions or putting in place trade barriers. Now is the time to protect the flow of food around the world.”
Governments must resist calls from some quarters to protect their own food supply by restricting exports, he said, as some have begun to do.
Asian markets mostly rose or clawed back early losses Thursday as investors breathed a sigh of relief that US senators have finally passed a gargantuan stimulus package for the world’s top economy after being delayed by wrangling over details.
The unprecedented $2 trillion plan – described by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a “wartime level of investment”– helped spur a surge across global equities as panicked traders worried about the impact of the coronavirus sweeping the planet.
The monster deal thrashed out between Republicans, Democrats and the White House includes cash payments to American taxpayers and several hundred billion dollars in grants and loans to small businesses and core industries. It also buttresses hospitals desperately in need of medical equipment and expands unemployment benefits.
Traders reacted positively to the latest developments.
Hong Kong was marginally higher after spending most of the morning down, Sydney climbed three percent, Mumbai climbed 2.6$ and Seoul put on 0.9%.
Jakarta soared more than 9%, Manila more than 5% and Wellington 4%. Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei also posted strong gains.
But Tokyo, which soared by almost a fifth in three days, was down 3.2%, while Shanghai was also slightly down.
Russia grounds international flights
The Russian government has ordered the civil aviation authority to suspend all regular and charter flights to and from Russia from March 27, the government said on its website.
Russian airlines will still be allowed to fly to other countries to bring Russian citizens back or if they are authorised by special government decisions.
Russia has reported 658 Covid-19 cases and three deaths.
Iran, which has the sixth-highest number of confirmed infections globally at 27,017, has extended the closure of schools and universities and the suspension of gatherings, Reuters reports.
Russia will ground all international flights from midnight, according to the government, AP reports. We’ll have more on this soon.
#BREAKING Russia to ground all international flights from midnight: government pic.twitter.com/aORnWALZxA
— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 26, 2020
Updated
New York medical staff brace for a surge of coronavirus patients
Frontline medical workers in New York are braced for a surge of patients unlike anything they have seen in their careers, with the state at the center of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
New York City’s infamously bustling streets have almost emptied of pedestrians and cars, but inside its hospitals, emergency departments and critical care units are already busy with Covid-19 patients.
“We’re trying to expand the capacity in our intensive care unit, knowing we will continue to see a lot of critical cases,” said Erick Eiting, vice-chair of emergency medicine and professor at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, a 700-bedhospital in lower Manhattan. Eiting’s days are now filled by the pings of an app, which notifies doctors when a Covid-19 test comes back positive. He says it pings constantly.
Dr Craig Spencer, an emergency medicine doctor at Columbia University Medical Center, described hearing a “cacophony of coughing” in the facility. Nearly every patient he saw in a recent day had Covid-19.
Walk in for your 8am shift: Immediately struck by how the calm of the early morning city streets is immediately transformed. The bright fluorescent lights of the ER reflect off everyone's protective goggles. There is a cacophony of coughing. You stop. Mask up. Walk in.
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) March 24, 2020
You immediately assess this patient. It's clear what this is, and what needs to happen. You have a long and honest discussion with the patient and family over the phone. It's best to put her on life support now, before things get much worse. You're getting set up for that, but...
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) March 24, 2020
For the rest of your shift, nearly every hour, you get paged:
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) March 24, 2020
Stat notification: Very sick patient, short of breath, fever. Oxygen 88%.
Stat notification: Low blood pressure, short of breath, low oxygen.
Stat notification: Low oxygen, can't breath. Fever.
All day...
You can get in touch with me directly with tips, news, questions or jokes on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Brazil’s governors are defying President Jair Bolsonaro over his call to reopen schools and businesses, dismissing his argument that the cure of widespread shutdowns to contain the spread of the coronavirus is worse than the disease, AP reports.
Bolsonaro contends that the clampdown already ordered by many governors will deeply wound the already beleaguered economy and spark social unrest. In a nationally televised address Tuesday night, he urged governors to limit isolation only to high-risk people and lift the strict anti-virus measures they have imposed in their regions.
“What needs to be done? Put the people to work. Preserve the elderly, preserve those who have health problems. But nothing more than that,” said Bolsonaro, who in the past has sparked anger by calling the virus a “little flu”.
The country’s governors protested on Wednesday that his instructions run counter to health experts’ recommendations and endanger Latin Americas largest population.
They said they would continue with their strict measures. The rebellion even included traditional allies of Brazil’s far-right president.
Gov. Carlos Moisés of Santa Catarina state, which gave almost 80% of its votes to Bolsonaro in the 2018 presidential runoff, complained he was blown away by the presidents instructions.
In a videoconference earlier in the day between Bolsonaro and governors from Brazil’s southeast region, Sao Paulo Gov. João Doria threatened to sue the federal government if it tried to interfere with his efforts to combat the virus.
The governors weren’t the only defiant ones. Virus plans challenged by Bolsonaro were upheld by the Supreme Court. The heads of both congressional houses criticized his televised speech. Companies donated supplies to state anti-virus efforts.
Bolsonaro told reporters in the capital, Brasilia, that he has listened to his US counterpart, Donald Trump, and found their perspectives to be rather similar.
If puns are your thing, here is a new way to pass a few minutes of self-isolation:
Flu Fighters #StayHomeBands
— Micah Levine (@micahilevine) March 26, 2020
Purel Jam #stayhomebands
— Carlos Rodriguez (@CarlosComedy) March 26, 2020
#StayHomeBands Grateful We’re Not Dead
— Kushy § Katzz® 💚🇧🇷💫 (@katzz77) March 26, 2020
Pandemic at the Disco #StayHomeBands
— @midnight (@midnight) March 26, 2020
Ben Folds Laundry #StayHomeBands
— Mediocre Tweets (@JurisprudenceNJ) March 26, 2020
In music-to-wash-your-hands-to news:
Liberian President George Weah released a coronavirus-themed single on Wednesday, using music to raise awareness about prevention measures in the impoverished West African state.
In his “Let’s Stand Together and Fight Coronavirus”, Weah explains how the virus is spread and urges hand washing to a backing of harmonised female vocals and upbeat guitar music from the group The Rabbis.
“From Europe to America, from America to Africa, take precautions, and be safe,” the former football icon sings.
The poor country of some 4.8 million people, which has banned travel to and from virus-stricken countries, has recorded three coronavirus cases to date.
As with other poor states in the region, there are fears about Liberia’s capacity to respond to an outbreak.
The country was the worst affected by the 2014-16 West African Ebola outbreak, when more than 4,800 people died.
Confirmed Covid-19 infections approach half a million worldwide
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases globally is likely to reach half a million in just a few days, the latest Johns Hopkins University figures show, as Italy’s cases edge closer to overtaking those in China.
The total number of confirmed cases worldwide is currently 471,783.
The US is not far behind China either – with a difference of just over 10,000 cases.
Global deaths passed 21,000 on Thursday.
Italy and Spain are the two worst-affected countries, with 7,503 and 3,647 fatalities respectively. Deaths in the US passed 1,000 for the first time on Wednesday, with over a quarter of those in New York.
- China: 81,727
- Italy: 74,386
- US: 69,171
- Spain: 49,515
- Germany: 37,323
- Iran: 27,017
- France: 25,600
- Switzerland: 10,897
- United Kingdom: 9,640
- South Korea: 9,241
Here again is that analysis of US case increases by Nate Silver. The WHO warned this week that the country risks becoming the new centre of the pandemic.
These might not *seem* like big differences. But multiplied over days/weeks, they matter a lot:
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) March 25, 2020
30% = daily growth is quite bad; steepest part of exponential curve
20% = slope nudged downward but still exponential growth
10% = rather encouraging, may mean Ro<1 and spread slowing
Still in Asia Pacific for now: two cruise ships off the coast of Western Australia have been told to “immediately” leave Australian waters, after the country’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus was traced to a cruise liner that docked in Sydney Harbour last week, Reuters reports.
Cruise ships have become a flash point for the epidemic in Australia after 147 of 2,700 passengers who disembarked from the Ruby Princess cruise ship in Sydney later tested positive for Covid-19.
The outbreak from the Ruby Princess represents the country’s worst cluster of the virus, and has sparked anger over why passengers, more than a dozen showing flu-like symptoms, were cleared to disembark without basic health checks.
State authorities have clashed with the central government over the handling of the issue, adding to tensions over matters including virus testing and school closures as the number of cases rapidly rises above 2,550, with 12 dead.
Indonesia could have thousands of hidden coronavirus cases, study says
It was just last month that Indonesia’s coronavirus cases stood at zero, with officials fiercely rejecting suggestions that infections were spreading undetected.
Weeks later, 58 fatalities have now been linked to the virus, the highest number in south-east Asia. Seven health workers are among those who have died.
While confirmed case have risen to almost 800, researchers have estimated that there could be tens of thousands of hidden infections across the country, and there is growing concern that medical facilities will be unable to cope in the event of a major outbreak.
Reports emerged overnight that the United Kingdom may allow its citizens to self-test at home for Covid-19 using a rapid finerprick test, which detects antibodies in a patient’s blood, and can return positive results in 15 minutes. The test kit is being evaluated, and, if deemed sufficiently accurate, will be made available for home-testing, either via Amazon delivery or from local pharmacists.
Australia has now ordered 1.5m antibody tests from a variety of manufacturers. Five different companies have been given conditional approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration to sell the rapid antibody tests.But the Australian health department has confirmed that it will not allow the tests to be used at home.
The tests will be used only in healthcare settings with the assistance of a practitioner, so patients can be given treatment and advice if needed. “Australia requires testing for serious infectious diseases to be conducted in conjunction with a healthcare professional who can provide appropriate advice and treatment if required,” a spokesman said.
The government is continuing to assess the effectiveness of the tests in conjunction with the Doherty Institute.
How did Spain get its coronavirus response so wrong?
It is one of the darkest and most dramatic moments in recent Spanish history. In the chilling table of daily dead from the coronavirus pandemic, Spain has taken top position from Italy - with 738 dying over 24 hours.
Spain is now the hotspot of the global pandemic, a ghoulish title that has been passed from country to country over four months – starting in Wuhan, China, and travelling via Iran and Italy. As it moves west, we do not know who will be next.
What went wrong? Spain had seen what happened in China and Iran. It also has Italy nearby, just 400 miles across the Mediterranean and an example of how the virus can spread rapidly and viciously inside Europe.
Yet Spaniards cannot blame that proximity. There are no land borders with Italy, while France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia – all countries that are doing much better – do have them.
This may, in fact, be one of the reasons for the country’s late response. Spain thought it was far enough away. “Spain will only have a handful of cases,” said Dr Fernando Simón, the head of medical emergencies in Madrid, on 9 February. Six weeks later he gives out daily figures of hundreds of deaths. The number of dead per capita is already three times that of Iran, and 40 times higher than China.
Egypt has closed the Pyramids of Giza for two weeks as the country moves to stop the spread of coronavirus. The popular tourist site is undergoing a thorough disinfection through the ministry of antiquities as part of a project to sanitise all tourist sites across the country.Watch:
China and the United States are expected to call a timeout on their coronavirus blame game and focus on the challenges of the pandemic when leaders of the G20 nations hold talks via video conference on Thursday, the South China Morning Post said.
The leaders are expected to agree that the outbreak is a threat to humanity and will set up a mechanism to share information and experiences in fighting the disease, the paper said, citing a draft statement to be discussed at the summit.
“As the world confronts the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenges to healthcare systems and the global economy, we convene this extraordinary G20 summit to unite efforts towards a global response,” Saudi Arabia’s King Salman said on Twitter.
As the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges to healthcare systems and the global economy, we convene this extraordinary G20 summit to unite efforts towards a global response.
— سلمان بن عبدالعزيز (@KingSalman) March 25, 2020
May God spare humanity from all harm.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s reference to the “Chinese virus” – a term President Donald Trump has also used repeatedly – has greatly angered Beijing.
Some US politicians were using the pandemic as a weapon to smear China, Beijing has said, adding that its actions, including quarantining millions of people, had earned the world “precious time” to prepare.
It has also disputed the widely held belief that the virus originated in China, and comments by a foreign ministry spokesman that it could have been brought to the country by the US military have further heightened tension between the two.
Updated
Two Australian prison staff test positive
In Australia meanwhile, two staff members at a New South Wales prison hospital have tested positive for Covid-19, raising further concerns about outbreaks in detention facilities.
The two people are employees at the Long Bay forensic hospital, a 135-bed facility in the Long Bay Correctional Complex. Four patients have subsequently been tested after showing symptoms.
All face to face visits to inmates in the nation’s jails and prison hospitals were banned last week, as part of tougher distancing measures decided by the national cabinet.
State, territory and federal corrections and justice ministers are meeting today to discuss managing prisons during the pandemic.
NSW and the Northern Territory have already announced some prisoners could be released early under new emergency powers, on a case-by-case basis.
It follows a prison guard at Wolston Correctional Centre at Wacol in Queensland also being diagnosed with Covid-19.
The officer had contact with other staff and prisoners during a number of shifts over the weekend and Monday.
Queensland’s Aboriginal legal service is calling for a national, co-ordinated approach, to clarify what types of offences might be considered for conditional release. It’s worried that the virus will spread fast in prisons, where a high number of inmates are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders and have comorbidities which make them particularly vulnerable.
Updated
The latest from New Zealand under lockdown now.
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern, says the government is not looking into releasing low-risk prisoners to help corrections manage risk during the shutdown.
Mercy flights on a large scale were also not being pursued for New Zealanders still stranded overseas, Ardern said, as unlike other nations there were small numbers of New Zealanders scattered around the globe, making it difficult to charter planes.
The government’s advice remained for those Kiwis now stuck overseas to find secure accommodation to hunker down and wait out the crisis.
Finance minister Grant Robertson addressed predictions that unemployment could rise from 4% to 30% following the Covid-19 crisis. Robertson said job losses would be “significant” and greater than the GFC - but the 30% figure was the highest he had seen so far.
“We are entering into a period where there will be far more volatility in the labour market,” Robertson said. “Income support is going to be needed for many.”
And now it’s time to wash your hands, this time with the help of Senegalese hip-hop group Y’en a Marre, who have recorded a rap about the importance of manual cleanliness and avoiding crowds in their latest release: ‘Shield against Coronavirus.’
The package’s passing in the senate comes as more than a million Californians have filed for unemployment this month due to the coronavirus crisis.
“We just passed the 1 million mark for the number of claims since March 13,” the Gavin Newsom said at a press conference on Wednesday about the unemployment claims.
The jump in new unemployment claims is unprecedented. On a typical day, the California department of unemployment sees 2,000 new claims. Last week, on Wednesday, 80,000 new claims were filed in a single day.
Still in Washington for now, the legislation is an order of magnitude larger than the $800bn stimulus bill passed in 2009 to alleviate the economic pain of the Great Recession. And yet it is only expected to be a temporary patch to stabilize an economy spiraling out of control. Senators have already signaled a need to begin work on the next stimulus package.
Trump confirmed on Wednesday evening that he planned to sign the stimulus package “immediately” when it gets to his desk, adding that he’ll have a “beautiful” signing.
You can get in touch with me directly with tips, news, questions or jokes on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
US Senate passes biggest rescue deal of its kind country's history
Here is the full story on that deal passing in the senate moments ago.
The US Senate has passed a $2.2tn emergency relief package as the coronavirus pandemic devastates the economy, marking the biggest rescue deal of its kind in US history.
“This is a strange and evil disease,” said the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer ahead of the vote. “When we pass this bill, instead of hugging each other, we’ll wave from a distance.”
The bill would provide up to $1,200 in direct relief for American adults, create a $500bn lending program for businesses, cities and states and $367bn fund for small businesses. The plan also provides $130bn to hospitals, and expands unemployment insurance.
Senators overwhelmingly voted to pass the legislation, approving it 96-0.
The House is expected to vote on the bill on Friday. “We are working to ensure that those who are unable to return to Washington will be able to express their views on this legislation remotely,” said the House leader Steny Hoyer in a statement.
Lawmakers scrambled on Wednesday to smooth over snags as they rushed to pass the legislation, which provides direct payments to American families, and loans and grants to businesses. A last-minute amendment, from Republican senators who complained that the bill would incentivize workers to collect unemployment payments rather than take a job, failed.
After casting her vote Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat of Massachusetts, said: “This is not the bill I wanted, but its immediate investments are vital.” “They are also insufficient,” she added. “We will need to do more – and soon.”
McConnell similarly reflected on the compromises that Republicans and Democrats made to arrive at the deal. “It’s been a long, hard road, with a remarkable number of twists and turns,” he said. “But for the sake of millions of Americans, it will be worth it. It will be worth it to get help to millions of small businesses and save tens of millions of jobs.”
Updated
CNN reports the vote is 96-0, with four senators absent but nobody opposed.
#BREAKING: After a furious partisan fight and days of hard-fought talks, the Senate comes together amid a coronavirus crisis gripping the country and fears of an economic recession, clears rescue package 96-0. “This is a proud moment for the United States Senate,” McConnell said
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 26, 2020
Senate Clerk: "No Senator voted in the negative." pic.twitter.com/0TwOZFsUxb
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 26, 2020
House members will attempt to approve the package on Friday over the phone.
Senate majority leader McConnell is speaking in the press gallery now.
Voting isn’t quite done – there are only 95 senators present – but McConnell says the package has been passed unopposed.
The gavel has not come down yet.
Updated
The US Senate vote comes as coronavirus-related deaths in the US pass 1,000.
Confirmed infections are also rapidly increasing:
Increase over yesterday in detected coronavirus cases. Hopefully, grouping things by region helps even out disparities in testing rates.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) March 25, 2020
South: +32%
Northeast (excluding NY): +30%
Midwest: +27%
West (excluding CA & WA): +23%
New York: +20%
California: +20%
Washington: +11%
Updated
US Senate begins voting on historic US$2tn stimulus package
In Washington, the US senate is currently voting on the historic US$2tn stimulus package. If passed, which it is expected to do, it would become the largest economic stimulus measure in US history.
Earlier, the Guardian’s Amanda Holpuch reported that Donald Trump’s family has been blocked from getting bailout funds in the $2tn economic stimulus package, according to a letter from the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer.
Schumer, a New York Democrat, wrote a three-page “Dear Colleagues” letter which outlines the steps the Senate took to secure the agreement. It emphasizes that Democrats will use the bailout to expand access to unemployment insurance and to increase funding for the health system.
More on that story below:
Updated
As we prepare to report on the expected passing of the US $2tn stimulus package in response to the coronavirus pandemic, here is a video being shared widely of Bernie Sanders, formerly the favourite to win the Democratic presidential nomination, in the US Senate earlier on Wednesday:
Here’s Bernie Sanders pointing out the absurdity of Republicans clutching pearls over workers making a few extra bucks from the coronavirus bill when they had no problem with trillion-dollar tax cuts for the wealthy in 2017 pic.twitter.com/ABenmjayVl
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2020
Updated
Summary
- China reported no new locally transmitted cases for the second day in a row. Mainland China did however report an increase in new confirmed coronavirus cases, all of which involved travellers arriving from abroad.
- The governor of Tokyo, Japan, has asked the city’s residents to stay at home this weekend to avoid an “explosion” of Covid-19 infections following a rise in the number of local cases.
- The economic downturn and job losses caused by the pandemic is likely to be worse than the 2008 recession, according to World Trade Organization projections.
- Singapore is heading for a deep recession, data shows. Singapore has suffered its biggest economic slump for a decade, according to preliminary growth figures for the first three months of the year.
- Thailand barred entry into the kingdom late on Wednesday, enacting sweeping emergency powers in a bid to stem the local spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
- Mexico’s federal government will suspend all non-essential activities beginning on Thursday, Mexico’s deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell told reporters.
- The global death toll passed 21,000. In all, 21,152 people have died as a result of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The institution says there have been at least 451,355 cases around the world, while 112,982 people have recovered.
- US authorities prepared to bring home tens of thousands of people more than they had expected. As many as 50,000 Americans may need their government’s help in getting home, the US State Department said.
- More than 400,000 volunteered to help the UK’s health service. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, says the government had hoped 250,000 people would volunteer to help those in isolation by delivering medicines, driving patients to and from hospital appointments and making regular phone calls to check up on them.
- The UK identified nearly 1,500 new cases. The UK’s Department of Health and Social Care says that, as of 9am on Wednesday (GMT), 9,529 people have tested positive; an increase of 1,452 since its last update, which was as at 9am on Tuesday. A further 28 people died in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in the UK to 465.
- Italy’s infection rate slowed for the third consecutive day. The World Health Organization said the country could reach its peak number of coronavirus cases on Sunday.
- Argentina reported its largest one-day increase in cases. According to local media reports, officials in the country say the latest figures show 86 new cases in 24 hours – the highest daily figure of the pandemic to date.
- Belgian hospital admissions increased by half. With experts warning the disease has not yet reached its peak, the country’s federal crisis centre said 434 people had been admitted to hospital in 24 hours; an increase of 50% on the previous day.
- Spain’s deputy prime minister tested positive. Carmen Calvo was hospitalised on Sunday with a respiratory infection. She is doing well and receiving medical treatment, according to the Spanish government.
- The UN launched a global humanitarian response plan. Its secretary general, António Guterres, called on governments to work together to combat the pandemic.
- Widespread New York closures are likely, the state’s governor warned. Andrew Cuomo said New York City could begin closing streets to traffic, while parks and playgrounds could yet see mandatory closures if New Yorkers continue to ignore calls to self-quarantine.
US senate poised to vote on $2tn stimulus package
The US Senate is scheduled to begin voting shortly on a historic $2 trillion bill to stimulate the sagging economy and rush federal funds to medical centres struggling to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set the late-Wednesday vote on passage of the bipartisan bill, which was crafted in marathon talks over the past week.
Updated
Hong Kong experiences surge in infections
Hong Kong reported another 24 confirmed cases on Wednesday, bringing the region’s total to 410. Hong Kong is experiencing a surge in infections after thousands of residents rushed back amid global border closures and lockdowns, but epidemiologists have noted community transmissions remain low.
Most of the 24 people were recent arrivals. The Hong Kong hospital authority announced on Wednesday it would set up triage and test centres and some hospitals to alleviate the growing pressure on emergency departments.
Testing centres established last week at AsiaWorld-Expo and the North Lantau hospitals had tested 370 cases so far, 13 of them returning a positive result.”
In the past, these patients with travel history and symptoms would be admitted to our isolation facilities for further investigation and treatment,” said the authority’s chief manager, Dr Sarah Ho.”
Because we have an increasing pressure on (the need for) isolation rooms, this is why we started the pilot project to set up the testing centres in AsiaWorld-Expo and also North Lantau Hospital.”
It comes as the government brought 281 residents who had been stranded in Hubei province back to Hong Kong.The majority of the group were repatriated from Xiaogan, Xianning, and Huangshi. 43 people had been stranded in other cities.
All will now undergo 14 days of home quarantine in Hong Kong. Another 280 people still in Hubei are being brought back today.
Updated
Mexico will suspend non-essential activities from Thursday
Mexico’s federal government will suspend all non-essential activities beginning on Thursday, Mexico’s deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell told reporters.
Mexico registered 475 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, up from 405, and six deaths overall.
Updated
Tokyo governor tells residents to stay home
The governor of Tokyo has asked the city’s residents to stay at home this weekend to avoid an “explosion” of Covid-19 infections following a rise in the number of local cases.
Yuriko Koike described the situation as “severe”, but stopped short of calling for the kind of restrictions on movement now in place in other countries.
“We urge people at all costs to refrain from going out this weekend if it’s not urgent,” Koike said at an emergency news conference on Wednesday evening.
Social media users posted photos of empty supermarket shelves after Koike’s announcement, while other stores appeared to be running very low only on items such as pasta, instant noodles and toilet paper.
Tokyo – a city of 13 million people – reported 41 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the largest daily number and more than double the number reported the previous day.
With a total of 212 cases, Tokyo has overtaken the northern island of Hokkaido, previously the most affected of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
Updated
A video to bring your blood pressure back down for a moment. Bravo Pancino!
Just in case you need it, here’s a dog doing yoga in Italian. You’re welcome. pic.twitter.com/zTKp3MbI8e
— Amanda in Atlanta (@ATLnewsgirl) March 25, 2020
Here’s a video of that Trump presser earlier, in which the US president attacked the media:
Meanwhile in New Zealand, where the response has at every turn seemed to diverge from Australia’s – with prime minister Jacinda Ardern being praised for clear, compassionate messaging and firm action – Ardern has thanked staff working through the shutdown.
Anyone else completely envious of New Zealand and their extremely competent PM Jacinda Ardern, who is fighting COVID-19 with a zeal Scott Morrison and his mate Nev Power could only dream of? #auspol #stayhomeaustralia #stayhomenz #coronavirusau #coronaviruslockdown pic.twitter.com/AoeivZmEqL
— Stephen #WashYourHands 🧼 (@TheAviator1992) March 25, 2020
The shutdown had seen “a new frontline” created, Ardern said, including bank tellers, cleaners and supermarket workers.
Ardern says she used to be a checkout operator, and knows it can be “a thankless task at the best of times” and couldn’t imagine what they had worked through the past few weeks.
“On Monday we said we needed to shut New Zealand down. And here we are on Thursday with our streets essentially empty. That is a remarkable feat and I want to thank the nation for that.”
A NZ$27m (US$15.6m) social welfare package has been announced to support NGOs and community groups help the most vulnerable through the shutdown, including those escaping domestic violence and the country’s homeless and hungry.
Women’s Refuge have said they expect to be helping more women throughout the shutdown as vulnerable families would be under significant and prolonged strain.
Speaking of tense press briefings, Australia’s Scott Morrison – who, like Trump, has issued confusing and taken a seemingly erratic approach to fighting the pandemic, leaving people frustrated and worried that the government is not doing enough – has reprimanded a journalist for asking questions.
And that journalist – the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Andrew Probyn – along with Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy, has become a meme:
11/10 @andrewprobyn content: pic.twitter.com/G9mjrHGf0K
— Isobel Roe (@isobelroe) March 24, 2020
Probyn has since tweeted that his kids now, finally, care about his job:
This is the only bit of their dad’s “work” that my kids have taken real notice of ... ever.
— Andrew Probyn (@andrewprobyn) March 24, 2020
Sad.
Trump accuses media of wanting to keep economy shut to hurt his reelection
Donald Trump has accused the media of wanting to keep the US economy shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic to undermine his chances of reelection.
The US president has been pushing to reopen swaths of the country by Easter – 12 April – despite warnings from medical experts that measures such as closing businesses and social distancing need more time to work.
“The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “The real people want to get back to work ASAP. ”
At Wednesday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing, Trump followed up with an aggressive denial that the Easter timeline is based on his political interests. “The media would like to see me do poorly in the election,” he said.
China reports no new locally transmitted cases for second day
More now on China, which reported no new locally transmitted cases for the second day in a row.
Mainland China reported a second consecutive day of no new local coronavirus infections as the epicentre of the epidemic Hubei province opened its borders, but imported cases rose as Beijing ramped up controls to prevent a resurgence of infections, Reuters reports.
A total of 67 new cases were reported as of end-Wednesday, up from 47 a day earlier, all of which were imported, China’s National Health Commission said in a statement on Thursday.
The total number of cases now stands at 81,285.
Shanghai reported the most cases with 18 followed by Inner Mongolia region at 12 and Guangdong province at 11.
The number of new daily cases remain down sharply from the height of the outbreak in the country in February, allowing Beijing to push for restarting economic activity in the world’s second biggest economy.
Hubei province, home to some 60 million people, reported no new cases on Wednesday and opened its borders. Public transport restarted and residents in the city of Xianning strolled the streets wearing masks.
The lockdown of Hubei’s capital Wuhan, where the virus first appeared late last year, will be lifted on April 8, a milestone in China’s war against the epidemic as Beijing shifts its focus towards stemming imported cases and rebooting the economy.
Singapore heading for deep recession, data shows
Singapore has suffered its biggest economic slump for a decade, according to preliminary growth figures for the first three months of the year.
The numbers show the city-state economy shrank 2% in the first quarter, compared with an expected figure of -1.5%.
When that -2% drop is compared with the last quarter of 2019 and then projected as an annual figure, it amounts to a 10.6% fall in GDP.
Singapore G1 GDP -10.6% QoQ annualized (estimate -8.2%) 😬. Q2 will be rather bad as well if not worse due to more stringent measures & the rest of the world shutdown. https://t.co/lLn6QR5PqA
— Trinh Nguyen (@Trinhnomics) March 26, 2020
The numbers are among the first official data from any country showing how coronavirus might impact economies and signal the onset of the global recession.
Capital Economics said: “The sharp contraction in Singapore’s economy in Q1 was deeper than expected, and with global growth collapsing, the worst is yet to come. Given today’s outturn, we are lowering our 2020 GDP growth forecast from -3.0% to -3.5%.”
You can get in touch with me directly throughout the day with tips, news, questions or jokes on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
In Argentina, the daily reported cases of coronavirus made a dramatic leap on Wednesday, with 117 new cases, bringing the total to 502.
Eight deaths have been reported so far, including a seven-year-old girl who died Wednesday after she was hospitalised because of pre-existing conditions in the northern province of Chaco. The highest previous leap was Tuesday, with 87 new cases.
In a drastic measure, Argentina Wednesday announced the suspension of repatriation efforts for thousands of Argentinians stranded abroad by the coronavirus pandemic. The harsh decision was apparently in response to repatriated Argentinians who have lied about their health to get on flights home.
It is estimated that over 10,000 Argentinians, most of them tourists, are still outside the country, mainly in the US, Europe, the UK and Latin America. Only persons over 65 years of age will be allowed back, President Alberto Fernández announced.
Among those who won’t now be able to return is 62-year-old Martín Echegaray Davies, an Argentinian of Welsh descent who was thwarted from completing his two-and-a-half year walk from Ushuaia, at the southernmost tip of Argentina, to Alaska, when the US border with Canada was closed last week.
Echegaray, who is holed up in Fargo, North Dakota, after his failed attempt to cross to Canada, posted this selfie on his Instagram account Wednesday saying he does not know now when he will be able to return from the US.
South Korea reported 104 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing its total infections to 9,241, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The death toll from the pandemic in South Korea rose by five to reach a total of 131.
In Uganda, musician and political challenger to the country’s aging leader Robert Kyagulanyi – who also goes by his stage name Bobi Wine – has released a song laced with East Africa’s signature rhumba melodies about the importance of personal hygiene, with fellow artist Nubian Li.
If you’re washing your hands to this track, you’ll hit the 20-second mark when these words are sung in the chorus:
“The coronavirus is sweeping over mankind. Everybody must be alert.”
Uganda on Wednesday confirmed five more cases of Covid-19, bringing its tally to 14, four days after it recorded its first patient.
“The bad news is that everyone is a potential victim,” Kyagulanyi says in the lyrics.
“But the good news is that everyone is a potential solution.”
President Yoweri Museveni’s government has already taken a raft of measures including sealing off borders, closing bars, and banning public gatherings to contain the outbreak.
Music has previously been instrumental in tackling other outbreaks in Uganda.
Moving away from Asia Pacific now to Kosovo, where the government has fallen after only 50 days in power, in part as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with the junior governing coalition partner pushing through a no-confidence vote following disagreements with the prime minister, the Associated Press reports.
The prime minister, Albin Kurti, of the leftwing Self-Determination Movement, may take two weeks to try to form a new government or an early parliamentary election will be called.
A 12-hour long debate on the no-confidence vote culminated in a vote of 82 in favour, 32 against and one abstention. The government will continue in a caretaker role.
Last week Kurti fired then-interior minister Agim Veliu of the centre-right Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, for not being in line with government policy on containing the coronavirus. The LDK leader Arben Gashi said this effectively ended the coalition because his party was not consulted first.
Thailand stops entry into the country
Thailand barred entry into the kingdom late on Wednesday, enacting sweeping emergency powers in a bid to stem the local spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
The measures, which stopped short of a full lockdown after days of vacillation by the government, are a hammer blow to the country’s vital tourism sector.
Tens of thousands of travellers remain in the kingdom, facing uncertainty with airlines in chaos and restrictions on return to their countries.
Bangkok, a city of 10 million, was hushed Wednesday as shops and restaurants shuttered, and Buddhist monks seated a metre apart led an anti-virus prayer session televised nationwide. But social media showed thousands of foreigners jammed in chaotic lines at the capital’s immigration office to file for visa extensions.
The state of emergency will continue until April 30.
Thailand reported 111 new coronavirus infections, taking its tally to 1,045, the government said on Twitter on Thursday.
Updated
After putting her daughter to bed last night, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern hosted a Facebook live Q&A focused on coronavirus, as the country entered the highest alert level, Stage 4. Ardern implored New Zealanders to remain in self-isolation, while explaining the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country will go up, but not to be discouraged.
New Zealand’s director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced 78 new suspected and confirmed cases of the coronavirus overnight (73 confirmed), bringing the country’s total to 283.
On average 1400 tests are being done everyday, and 27 people have now recovered from the illness. Seven people are being treated in hospital, though none are requiring intensive care.
Dr Bloomfield said stockpiling of medicines was becoming an issue around the country, and new measures would be brought in limiting supply to one month for general medicines, and three months for oral contraceptives.
“There is no issue with the medicine supply chain,” Dr Bloomfield said.
“These are unprecedented times for New Zealand and other countries around the globe. We are all in this together. We will expect the number of cases to increase for at least the next ten days.”
In other US news from the last few hours, as rounded up by Maanvi Singh in San Francisco:
- Donald Trump continued to fixate on the idea that the country could scale back distancing measures within a fortnight, even as his top public health official, Anthony Fauci, signaled that the virus could be seasonal and resurge even after it abates.
- Senate leaders struggled to smooth over last-minute snags as they rush to pass a $2.2tn emergency relief package. Republican senators complained that the bill’s expansion of unemployment benefits would allow some to make more money on unemployment than they would if they were working. House speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled that Congress would pass the bill, but the logistics of how remained unclear, especially with several representatives under quarantine.
- New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, signaled early signs that physical distancing measures were working. But the number of cases and deaths in New York are continuing to mount.
- A Democratic debate in April looks unlikely. Though Joe Biden appears to be the presumptive nominee, Bernie Sanders is remaining in the race.
- More than 1m Californians filed for unemployment. Last week, the state’s governor Gavin Newsom asked residents to shelter in place, businesses to close down unless they provide essential services.
In US news, Politico reports that the Trump administration “failed to follow [the National Security Committee’s] pandemic playbook.”
EXCLUSIVE: White House national security officials prepared a “pandemic playbook” — a step-by-step guide to ensure testing, check on workers’ equipment, even consider the Defense Production Act.
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) March 26, 2020
The Trump administration ignored it. https://t.co/tykOlbW5Nh with @nahaltoosi
“The 69-page document, finished in 2016, provided a step by step list of priorities – which were then ignored by the administration,” Politico writes. The article explains that the White House playbook indicated that government should have kicked off a nationwide effort to obtain personal protective equipment two months ago.
‘Is there sufficient personal protective equipment for healthcare workers who are providing medical care?’ the playbook instructs its readers, as one early decision that officials should address when facing a potential pandemic. ‘If YES: What are the triggers to signal exhaustion of supplies? Are additional supplies available? If NO: Should the Strategic National Stockpile release PPE to states?’
The Australian market has opened about 1.6% up even as more companies announced they were shutting down operations and standing down thousands of staff.
Job losses and stand-downs among Australian listed companies now total more than 65,000 since the middle of last week after retailer Premier Investments and travel agent Flight Centre laid off staff on Thursday morning.
Casino operator Star Entertainment Group was the biggest gainer among top 200 companies, rising more than 15% even though its operations are shut down due to the crisis.
Gold miner Northern Star Resources was the biggest loser, shedding 9% after it withdrew profit forecasts and cancelled its dividend.
New cases in China increase, all from abroad
Mainland China reported an increase in new confirmed coronavirus cases, all of which involved travellers arriving from abroad, the National Health Commission said on Thursday.
The commission said in a statement that a total of 67 new cases were reported as of end-Wednesday, up from 47 a day earlier, putting the total accumulated number of confirmed coronavirus cases to date at 81,285.
The commission also reported a total of 3,287 deaths at the end of Wednesday, up 6 from the previous day.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s global coronavirus pandemic liveblog with me, Helen Sullivan.
With a third of the world’s population – or roughly 2.6 billion people – now under lockdown orders or advice, many of you will be reading this from your homes. I’ll do my best to bring you the most important developments in this unprecedented crisis as they happen.
You can get in touch directly throughout the day with tips, news, questions or jokes on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
- The economic downturn and job losses caused by the pandemic is likely to be worse than the 2008 recession, according to World Trade Organization projections.
- The global death toll passed 21,000. In all, 21,152 people have died as a result of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The institution says there have been at least 451,355 cases around the world, while 112,982 people have recovered.
- US authorities prepared to bring home tens of thousands of people more than they had expected. As many as 50,000 Americans may need their government’s help in getting home, the US State Department said.
- More than 400,000 volunteered to help the UK’s health service. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, says the government had hoped 250,000 people would volunteer to help those in isolation by delivering medicines, driving patients to and from hospital appointments and making regular phone calls to check up on them.
- The UK identified nearly 1,500 new cases. The UK’s Department of Health and Social Care says that, as of 9am on Wednesday (GMT), 9,529 people have tested positive; an increase of 1,452 since its last update, which was as at 9am on Tuesday. A further 28 people died in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in the UK to 465.
- Hopes were raised that antibody tests could soon be rolled out in the UK. Experts said tests that show whether or not a person has had the virus would first be used to work out how many people contract the virus but remain asymptomatic, before being given to NHS workers.
- Italy’s infection rate slowed for the third consecutive day. The World Health Organization said the country could reach its peak number of coronavirus cases on Sunday.
- Argentina reported its largest one-day increase in cases. According to local media reports, officials in the country say the latest figures show 86 new cases in 24 hours – the highest daily figure of the pandemic to date.
- Belgian hospital admissions increased by half. With experts warning the disease has not yet reached its peak, the country’s federal crisis centre said 434 people had been admitted to hospital in 24 hours; an increase of 50% on the previous day.
- Spain’s deputy prime minister tested positive. Carmen Calvo was hospitalised on Sunday with a respiratory infection. She is doing well and receiving medical treatment, according to the Spanish government.
- The UN launched a global humanitarian response plan. Its secretary general, António Guterres, called on governments to work together to combat the pandemic.
- Widespread New York closures are likely, the state’s governor warned. Andrew Cuomo said New York City could begin closing streets to traffic, while parks and playgrounds could yet see mandatory closures if New Yorkers continue to ignore calls to self-quarantine.
