We are closing this live global blog now, but you can pick up all of our continuing coverage on our new global blog here.
You can also see our latest summary of events at Coronavirus latest developments: at a glance.
Has the coronavirus pandemic “peaked” in the US?
Oliver Milman, an environment reporter for Guardian in New York, has some analysis on the progression of the coronavirus pandemic in the US.
A model relied upon by the White House, from the University of Washington, estimates that the virus will “peter out” in May and then essentially grind to a halt by the summer. This is based on the experiences of China and Italy, previous coronavirus hotspots.
But this model, like all predictions, is dynamic and depends upon the application of measures such as social distancing to slow the rate of transmission. Other forecasts have been more pessimistic, warning that it will be difficult to tame the spread of the virus until well after summer. Premature relaxation of restrictions on gatherings of people could see a second, much more severe, increase in infections.
The sheer size of the US, as well as its large population, means that there will be several ‘peaks’ at different times across the country. While the situation may be starting to stabilize somewhat in New York, areas in the heart of the country have yet to see the worst of the virus.”That is going to be confusing for people,” said Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota. “If wow, New York had all these deaths and they are opening up, why aren’t we opening? That will be a communication challenge for us, but we have to just keep monitoring and see where we are going on this.”
Abba Kyari, Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff, has died after contracting coronavirus, a spokesman for the president has confirmed.
Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, passes on. May God rest his soul. Amen. Funeral arrangements to be announced soon.
— Femi Adesina (@FemAdesina) April 17, 2020
On the protestors who gathered around the country and flouted distancing measures, Trump said, “They seem to be very responsible people to me.”
Demonstrations against stay-at-home orders, which have drawn elements of the far right, have been held in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia. Some protesters have carried guns, waved Trump and Confederate flags and sought to frame the debate as a defence of constitutional freedoms.
Updated
Rebecca Ratcliffe here in Bangkok, taking over from Kevin Rawlinson. Here are a few more updates from the White House daily briefing, which is ongoing.
Trump has been asked to address a series of incendiary tweets which appeared to stoke protests against physical distancing and other stay-at-home measures in three states led by Democratic governors.
Trump told reporters he is “very comfortable” with what he posted. He said that some states are going too far with social distancing measures.
But states are currently following federal guidelines encouraging Americans to stay home.
Earlier on Friday, Trump had tweeted: “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!”, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and: “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” – a reference to Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, last week signing into law new measures on gun control.
So far at the White House’s daily briefing:
Trump has said he will be sending out $19bn in relief to farmers, in addition to $28bn in bailout money sent to farmers to offset the impacts of his administration’s tariffs on imports.
Trump added that: “Following the announcement of our reopening guidelines, there have been some very partisan voices in the media and politics who have spread false and misleading information about our testing capacities.”
State and local leaders have complained that they are having trouble getting equipment, including swabs, needed to ramp up testing.
Yesterday, to speed up testing and address supply shortages, the FDA announced that it would allow a broader range of swabs to be used for tests, including some that would be easier to manufacture.
But the messaging from Dr Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus task force response coordinator, Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’ top infectious disease expert, and Dr Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, is that there will be enough testing, soon. Trump, meanwhile, has been insisting that the testing capacity is already where it needs to be.
“If about 1 out of 10 people are positive,” Giroir said, then health officials know that they are testing enough people.
You can follow live updates here.
Updated
In Washington, the White House’s daily briefing is underway. You can follow it live on our US-focused blog here:
In the UK, two men were arrested and another was injured in a motorbike collision after around 150 people flouted physical distancing rules to attend a funeral.
The funeral in Sittingbourne on Thursday was attended by large numbers of motorcyclists, and two men – aged 24 and 32 – were both arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and driving without a licence.
A 17-year-old boy was seriously injured when he was hit by a bike. Kent police said they informed about the funeral the evening beforehand but did not get chance to speak to those involved to remind them of physical distancing measures.
New data suggests that the pandemic’s toll in Ecuador may be much higher than previously indicated, after figures revealed a massive jump in deaths in the province at the centre of the country’s devastating outbreak.
Since the beginning of March six weeks ago, 10,939 people have died in Guayas province, which includes Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, according to figures released late on Thursday.
A man in his 50s has become the first person to die since the outbreak began in the Kurdish-dominated northern part of war-torn Syria, UN officials have said.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the administration of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region accused the World Health Organization (WHO) of not having immediately informed its officials, saying the UN agency and the Syrian authorities would be to blame for the spread of the virus.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said it received notice of the death from WHO on Thursday. AFP said the WHO was not available for comment.
The WHO “provided information indicating that a fatality at Qamishli National Hospital in northeast Syria on 2 April had subsequently tested positive for COVID-19”, OCHA said.
Syria COVID-19 Update
— OCHA Syria (@OCHA_Syria) April 17, 2020
• 38 COVID-19 cases reported by authorities
• On 16 April, WHO informed a man who died in NE Syria on 2 April subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.
• Support to enhance testing across Syria a UN priority.
Full report: https://t.co/3iM11K2zrQ
A Brazilian judge has banned a group of Christian missionaries from entering a vast Amazon indigenous reserve with the world’s highest concentration of isolated tribes, citing risks from the coronavirus pandemic as one of his reasons.
Indigenous leaders and activists hailed the decision as “historic” and expressed hope that it could prevent a genocide in the Javari valley, a remote reserve the size of Austria on Brazil’s western borders.
An unprecedented US policy authorising the summary expulsion of migrants and asylum seekers because of the pandemic violates international law, the United Nations has warned.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a sweeping order on 20 March encouraging the immediate deportation of non-citizens arriving overland without valid documents. The order cited an obscure quarantine law to claim the move is justified on public health grounds.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian mother temporarily released from prison in Iran due to the outbreak, does not yet know when she will have to return to complete her sentence.
She was originally released for two weeks with an ankle tag but Iran remains in the grip of the pandemic on the eve of her scheduled return.
The Iranian government claims there have been fewer than 5,000 deaths in total but pandemic modellers based in the US estimate that, as of 20 March, more than 15,000 have lost their lives. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, has said:
We are waiting on news tomorrow. Her lawyer will go to the prosecutor’s office to check whether she needs to return to prison or it has been extended.
English Premier League clubs have discussed resuming the season on the weekend of 13-14 June after Uefa wrote to domestic associations stating a desire they should finish their competitions by 31 July to leave August clear for the completion of the Champions League and Europa League.
The letter from European football’s governing body formed the basis of a two-hour conference call on Friday that explored how the Premier League may be concluded.
The San Diego Comic-Con has been cancelled. The event, the largest fan convention in North America, had been due to attract more than 130,000 people to Southern California from 23-26 July. However, organisers said that in the light of the health crisis, it would not be safe for it to take place.
It is the first time San Diego Comic-Con has been cancelled in its 50-year history.
The US navy will carry out antibody testing of sailors aboard the virus-hit aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt to determine whether they were exposed to the virus as it spread through the ship. The navy surgeon general, Rear Admiral Bruce Gillingham, has said:
We have scheduled the outbreak investigation to begin Monday and we are seeking crew member volunteers to provide an additional swab sample and a routine blood draw for laboratory testing. In addition, they will answer a short survey.
The blood sample will undergo a new test that identifies Covid-19 antibodies in the blood. This type of testing is called a serology test. The results tell us if people have been exposed to the coronavirus and subsequently developed antibodies.
Nature experts in Lebanon have noticed cleaner and clearer air filled with migratory birds as Beirut remains under lockdown during the pandemic. Migrating pelicans are flying over the city as environmentalists say birds seem to be venturing closer to urban areas:
Tunisia’s president has extended the country’s lockdown, Reuters reports. The government is to announce the extension period later, the presidency said.
This is the second extension of the lockdown, which started on 20 March as Tunisia struggles to stop the spread of the virus. More than 822 infections and 37 deaths have been declared.
Updated
Global death toll exceeds 150,000
The number of people known to have died worldwide since the outbreak began has passed the 150,000 mark, according to two organisations tracking the data.
Both Johns Hopkins University and the Reuters news agency, which are keeping separate counts, have said the figure has been exceeded, with the former putting it at 150,948.
The first death came in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on 9 January. It took 83 days for the first 50,000 deaths to be recorded and just eight more for the toll to climb to 100,000. It took another eight days to go from 100,000 to 150,000, according to Reuters.
In many countries, official data includes only deaths reported in hospitals, not those in homes or nursing homes, so the tolls are likely to be significant underestimates.
The United States has recorded the most confirmed Covid-19, with more than 680,000 detected infections. Spain is next with around 188,000 cases, followed by Italy.
Johns Hopkins University has counted more than 2.2m cases worldwide. Due to suspected underreporting and differing testing regimes, that figure is also likely to be an underestimate.
Updated
Capt Moore originally set out to raise £1,000 as a way of thanking staff following a hip replacement and showing support during the pandemic. The money is going to NHS Charities Together.
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War veteran raises £20m for health service
Capt Tom Moore, the British second world war veteran who sought sponsorship for walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday, has now raised more than £20m for National Health Service charities.
Earlier, he was hailed as a “one-man fundraising machine” by the Duke of Cambridge:
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New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, has criticised Donald Trump after the US president lashed out at him in a tweet.
Trump’s tweet suggested Cuomo should spend more time “doing” and less time “complaining”. The governor said: “If he’s sitting at home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.”
Updated
Almost 40% of the deaths in Wales have been in the area of south-east of the country covered by the Aneurin Bevan University health board, official figures reveal.
There have been 190 deaths in the area, which includes the city of Newport and some south Wales valley communities. The total number of deaths in Wales is 506, according to Public Health Wales.
The Aneurin Bevan area has been identified as a hotspot since the early days of the outbreak, with its proximity to England given by the Welsh government as one of the reasons.
But there has been growing concern that the problem has been exacerbated by the number of people in the area who live in deprived neighbourhoods and have underlying health problems – plus the pressure the main hospital, the Royal Gwent, has been under.
Updated
A sharp upward revision in China’s death toll is an “attempt to leave no case undocumented”, the World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist, Maria van Kerkhove, has claimed.
Kerkhove said the Chinese authorities had gone back over data from funeral services, care homes, fever clinics, hospitals and detention centres, as well as the number of patients who had died at home, in the city of Wuhan.
The US president, Donald Trump, has previously suggested that China has understated its death toll and has condemned the WHO, claiming it has backed China’s approach.
Updated
The latest figures show that 1,081 sailors on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, flagship of the French navy, have tested positive for the coronavirus. Among them 545 are showing symptoms, 24 are in hospital and one in intensive care, according to the French armies minister Florence Parly.
Parly said the figures were provisional as a further 300 sailors are awaiting the result of Covid-19 tests.
Answering questions in the Assemblée Nationale on Friday, Parly said an investigation was underway to establish how the vessel, which has been at sea since 16 March - a day before the lockdown - became contaminated. “We don’t know yet if the virus was already present on board before it docked (at Brest) on 13 March,” Parly told MPs.
The vessel returned to base at Toulon in the south of France two weeks early on Sunday. The crew has been placed in isolation for 14 days before being allowed to rejoin their families.
The Charles de Gaulle, which carries up to 1,700 sailors and as many as 600 air crew, was docked at Brest on France’s western coast between 13-15 March. It left Brest at 8am on 16 March, more than 24 hours before the national lockdown.
The Charles de Gaulle, which carries Rafale fighter planes, Hawkeye surveillance and control aircraft as well as Caracal and Cougar helicopters and Aster anti-air missiles, had been on exercise since 21 January and spent several weeks in the Mediterranean as part of Operation Chammal, the French contribution to the international anti-terrorist operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria.
It then sailed to the North Sea and then the Atlantic for “operations of security and defence” to European sea routes, said the ministry.
Updated
The total death toll from the coronavirus in France has risen to 18,681 on Friday from 17,920, Reuters reports.
The death toll in hospitals rose to 11,478 from 11,060, while the death toll in nursing homes rose to 7,203 from 6,860 on Thursday.
Updated
Here’s a video of lions and other wild animals relaxing in South Africa golf club during lockdown as visitors stay away.
Updated
A journalist just asked WHO about Chile’s immunity cards.
Dr Michael Ryan said WHO does not have a position on this approach. He advises countries to be very prudent at this point, emphasising there is a lot of uncertainty on the effectiveness of such tests.
He added that there are serious ethical issues to using immunity cards, which would allow some people to leave lockdowns.
Updated
Chile will become the first country to issue ‘immunity cards’ to those who have recovered
On Monday morning, Chile will become the first country to issue ‘immunity cards’ to those who have recovered from Covid-19, exempting holders from quarantine so that they can return to work.
Chile’s health minister announced that some of the cards would be issued according to the presence of antibodies to the virus, despite difficulties in producing reliable tests.
He promised “very high probability” that card holders would be non-contagious.
Chile considers that patients are no longer contagious 14 days after acute symptoms were registered or after they are discharged from hospital in more serious cases. Those with weakened immune systems are only considered non-contagious 28 days after symptoms appeared.
Concerns remain over the duration of recovered patients’ resistance to the virus, with South Korea’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention announcing that 141 patients have re-tested positive having apparently recovered.
Ever since the strategy was floated as a measure to lift quarantines, there have been concerns that the system could incentivise contagion, among those who feel that they might fight the virus off quickly, in order to return to work - or that a black market for immunity cards could thrive.
Germany and Italy have mooted ‘immunity passports’ as an exit strategy as they look to ease lockdowns, while the UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, suggested a wristband-based scheme for demonstrating immunity. The US is considering a similar policy.
According to official statistics, Chile has registered 9,252 Covid-19 cases, more than half of which are in the capital, Santiago, which remains under quarantine. There have been 116 deaths.
*This post has been amended. We originally reported that Italy’s national health institute had said only about 10% of recovered patients have developed antibodies. That has been removed because, in fact, it is about 10% of all Italians.
Updated
Summary
- Global death toll exceeds 147,000: According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, nearly 2.2 million people have been confirmed as having contracted the virus worldwide, while at least 147,632 have died. The figures are likely to present an underestimate.
- More than 14,000 have died in UK hospitals: The British government announces that a further 847 people have died in UK hospitals; taking the total to 14,576 since the outbreak began. That represents slightly decelerated growth. But the figures do not take account of the people who have died in other settings.
- Nearly 100,000 EU citizens remain stranded: The European commission says 98,900 EU citizens are still stuck abroad, though efforts to bring them home continue. That compares with 600,000 who had reported being stranded at the start of the outbreak.
- South Asia sees 22,000 cases: The number of people in the south Asia region known to have been infected passes the 22,000 mark. Health officials warn that the region, home to a fifth of the world’s population, could be the new frontline against the disease because there are millions in densely populated areas and living under fragile public health systems.
- Increase in Italian cases slows: Deaths in Italy rise by 575, up from 525 the day before, while the number of new cases declines slightly to 3,493 from a previous 3,786. The daily death toll is down considerably from peaks reached around the end of March.
- Health workers run out of protective gear: Health bosses in England are preparing to ask doctors and nurses to work without full-length gowns when treating patients, as hospitals are set to run out of supplies within hours.
- UK sets up vaccine taskforce: The UK’s newly created vaccine taskforce will be asked to provide industry and research institutions with resources, review regulations and make preparations for large-scale production once a vaccine is developed.
- Pandemic’s spread now ‘controllable’ in Germany: The reproduction number of the Covid-19 virus sinks to a new low in Germany, leading the health minister Jens Spahn to say there is enough evidence to declare the lockdown strategy a success.
- Jair Bolsonaro accused of leading Brazilians ‘to slaughterhouse’: The country’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has accused the incumbent of criminally irresponsible handling of the coronavirus as Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll hit 1,924.
Updated
WHO’s daily briefing on the coronavirus outbreak has just begun. WHO director Tarik Jasarevic said the coronavirus solidarity fund has generated $150m from more than 245,000 individuals, corporations and foundations.
Updated
Italy's death toll rises by 575 as number of new cases decline
Deaths from the coronavirus epidemic in Italy rose by 575 on Friday, up from 525 the day before, while the number of new cases declined slightly to 3,493 from a previous 3,786.
The daily death toll is down considerably from peaks reached around the end of March, Reuters reports.
The total death toll has risen to 22,745, the Civil Protection Agency said, the second highest in the world after that of the US.
The number of officially confirmed cases climbed to 172,434 the third highest global tally behind the United States and Spain.
Updated
Polish health minister Lukasz Szumowski said on Friday that the soonest safe elections in traditional form would be possible would be in two years, Reuters reports.
Szumowski said the only other safe way to hold elections would be by post. Poland is scheduled to hold a presidential election in May and the ruling nationalists Law and Justice (PiS) have advocated a postal vote.
Updated
The US president, Donald Trump, has sent a series of incendiary tweets calling on states currently under stay-at-home orders to be liberated.
LIBERATE MINNESOTA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
LIBERATE MICHIGAN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
The tweets follow yesterday’s federal guidelines on reopening the economy, which acknowledged governors would make the ultimate decision on how and when to reopen their states.
There’s more information on our US coronavirus live blog:
Updated
Cameroon, a country already facing multiple humanitarian emergencies, has surpassed 1,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The International Rescue Committee is calling for increased support to help mitigate the spread of the disease especially among the refugee and displaced population.
Hannah Gibbin, Cameroon country director at the IRC, said:
This milestone is an extremely concerning turning point for a country already facing multiple humanitarian emergencies. With almost 4 million people in need of humanitarian aid and the highest Covid-19 caseload across the Sahel and east Africa, this pandemic poses increased danger to people already suffering terrible violence.
And with 2.5 million people already in need of urgent medical care without the outbreak, the health system is clearly ill prepared to handle a rapid escalation in cases despite the best efforts of the government and its partners.
Refugees and people displaced from their homes do not have the luxury of social distancing and practising proper hygiene and sanitation. Most are living in crowded conditions, unable to maintain physical distance, ensuring the disease will continue to spread rapidly through the population.
Updated
The French navy is investigating how the coronavirus infected more than 900 sailors onboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, AP reports.
One person remains in intensive care and 20 others in hospital, the navy spokesman Commander Eric Lavault said on Friday.
The director of the French military’s health service arm, Maryline Gygax Généro, told a parliamentary commission on Friday that 940 people had tested positive so far and 645 negative among the 2,300 sailors in the aeronaval group, which included several escort vessels. Other results were not yet available.
A similar outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt led to the firing of its captain and the resignation this month of the acting US navy secretary, in a controversy about how that at-sea crisis was handled.
Updated
Nearly 100,000 EU citizens remain stranded as a result of coronavirus crisis
Almost 100,000 European Union citizens remain stranded abroad as a result of coronavirus travel restrictions, the European commission has said.
The EU executive announced on Friday that 98,900 EU citizens were stuck abroad with ongoing efforts to bring them home, in comparison to 600,000 who had reported being stranded at the start of the outbreak.
The commission said the EU had helped bring home more than half a million people, mostly through consular co-operation. Around 45,000 EU citizens have also been repatriated through nearly 200 EU funded flights, as well as 1,837 UK nationals.
The UK remains in the Brexit transition period until the end of the year, so has the right to draw on the EU’s civil protection mechanism, a system of mutual assistance during flood, forest fire or global pandemic.
But the latest figures reveal the UK government has made sparing use of the programme, which means the EU will fund 75% of the cost of emergency repatriation flights. The UK has organised only six flights through the scheme, fewer than any large country apart from Italy. The government has not drawn on the scheme since 29 March, when British citizens and a handful of other EU nationals were flown out of Peru.
In contrast, Germany has organised 101 such flights through the system, repatriating a total of 21,815 of its citizens with EU help.
The Guardian reported that 65,000 UK nationals around the world are still in need of repatriation. The shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, said the numbers raised questions over the government’s repatriation policy.
Updated
The number of patients in Germany who have recovered from the coronavirus has been higher than the number of new infections every day this week, the German health minister said on Friday.
Germany has the fifth highest Covid-19 caseload behind the United States, Spain, Italy and France at nearly 134,000 but has kept fatalities down to a relatively low 3,868 thanks to early and extensive testing, Reuters reports.
Updated
Canadian banks processed more than 670,000 mortgage payment deferrals in the month since the measure was announced to help consumers weather the economic hit from the coronavirus epidemic, the Canadian Bankers Association said on Friday.
Updated
Unrest has been rattling poor neighbourhoods across Colombia this week, as residents grow impatient with lockdown measures and unfulfilled promises of government-provided food relief.
In Ciudad Bolivar, a rundown hillside district in Bogotá, the capital, riot police clashed from Tuesday until late on Thursday evening with residents, who demanded food supplies that were promised by the president, Ivan Duque, on 25 March, before the South American country’s nationwide lockdown, but took weeks to arrive.
Residents of poorer neighbourhoods across the city have begun tying red rags to their houses to signal that those inside are hungry and call for donations.
On Thursday evening in Ciudad Bolivar, when authorities and members of the Red Cross were finally able to bring in food aid, protests quickly broke out, leaving four people injured. A police firearm was reportedly discharged, injuring a protester, which authorities say they are investigating.
“It doesn’t seem fair to me that this happens just for getting food,” the mother of the injured protester told local media.
Elsewhere in Colombia, other protests took place, with road blocks set up between cities by demonstrators calling for government help to survive the quarantine. Demonstrations also took place in Medellín, Colombia’s second city, and other regional capitals.
Latin America and the Caribbean, where 40% of the economy is informal, are little equipped for long-term lockdowns. Many members of the workforce live day to day and in precious housing.
Benjamin Gedan, an analyst at the Wilson Center, a thinktank, said the coronavirus pandemic had exposed class faultlines across Latin America. “The region’s poor are suffering the most, with no telecommuting opportunities, no savings, difficulty practising social distancing in their communities and often limited access to social welfare programmes,” he said in an email.
A group of regional ex-presidents and experts wrote a public letter calling the pandemic “one of the most tragic episodes in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean”.
“Instead of mobilising all capabilities at their disposal, some leaders have chosen to play populist and divisive politics in the midst of this tragedy,” the letter went on to say. “Latin Americans deserve much better.”
Updated
Indonesia reported 407 new coronavirus cases on Friday, according to Reuters. The total number of cases, 5,923, means it has surpassed the Philippines as the country with the highest number of infections in south-east Asia.
Updated
The US president, Donald Trump, has ramped up his attack on the World Health Organization with a tweet accusing the global body of not acting quickly enough on the virus.
Why did the W.H.O. Ignore an email from Taiwanese health officials in late December alerting them to the possibility that CoronaVirus could be transmitted between humans? Why did the W.H.O. make several claims about the CoronaVirus that ere either inaccurate or misleading....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
Updated
US airlines are estimated to be sitting on more than $10bn in travel vouchers that should have been cash refunds from cancelled flights, a group of US senators said on Friday.
Reuters reports that many US airlines are cancelling between 60% and 80% of their flights, and under federal law passengers on those flights are entitled to full refunds.
“However, many airlines have been obfuscating this right by offering travel vouchers as the default option, requiring passengers to take burdensome steps to request refunds instead,” the senators, Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, said in a statement.
Updated
Switzerland’s government urged residents against complacency on Friday, as the country’s new coronavirus infection rate slows and lawmakers start relaxing restrictions to stem the disease’s spread, Reuters reports.
Daniel Koch, who has led the government’s response at the public health ministry, told a press conference: “We’re a long way from being out of the danger zone. There’s a very big danger that more people become infected and that we will have additional, difficult cases.”
Switzerland will allow hairdressers, beauty salons and some other businesses to re-open from 27 April, followed by shops and schools next month.
The official Swiss death toll from the coronavirus has reached 1,059 people, the country’s public health agency said on Friday, rising from 1,017 on Thursday.
Updated
From donning school uniform to raiding the fancy-dress box, Guardian readers share how they are dressing while they are forced to work in the house.
A total of 14,576 patients have died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of Thursday.
Don’t forget to follow our UK live blog for more country-specific updates on the coronavirus.
Updated
Germany's eastern state of Saxony makes wearing mask compulsory on public transport and in shops
From Monday, people using public transport or visiting shops must be wearing face masks, according to the German news site Focus Online.
Updated
The White Helmets, the collective of Syrian volunteers who rescue civilians from under the rubble of destroyed buildings, have been carrying out disinfection works as part of the fight against the coronavirus.
The humanitarian group tweeted it was ensuring it reached people internally displaced in Syria.
We did not forget the camp where Tarda Al-Tamr, 75 years old, lives with her family after displacement from Maarat Al-Naam in our sterilization program against Corona. The White Helmets wish to reach as many IDP residents with virus defense and education as possible. pic.twitter.com/Hpbk8sl0qo
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) April 17, 2020
Updated
Coronavirus cases in south Asia cross 22,000
The number of people infected with the coronavirus crossed 22,000 in south Asia on Friday.
Reuters reports warnings from health officials that the region, home to a fifth of the world’s population, could be the new frontline against the disease because of millions living in packed slums and fragile public health systems.
The increase was driven by a rise in cases in India, while the Indian Ocean island nation of Maldives locked down its capital.
India’s caseload rose to 13,387, a jump of nearly 700 over the previous day, despite a harsh lockdown now in its fourth week and which will last at least until early May.
Updated
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has rejected the idea that China has handled the coronavirus outbreak better than western democracies.
In a wide-ranging interview published in Friday’s Financial Times, Macron said that as a result of the coronavirus, “we all face the profound need to invent something new, because that is all we can do”.
He dismissed comparison between democratic countries where information flowed freely and citizens could criticise their governments and those where the truth was suppressed.
“Given these differences, the choices made and what China is today, which I respect, let’s not be so naive as to say it’s been much better at handling this,” Macron told the the paper. “We don’t know. There are clearly things that have happened that we don’t know about.”
Updated
Brazil’s former health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta has said his country needs divine protection after his sacking by the president, Jair Bolsonaro, paved the way for a radical shift in coronavirus policy.
Brazil’s far-right president opposes social isolation and the partial lockdowns imposed by virtually all of Brazil’s governors and, after dismissing Mandetta, Bolsonaro vowed to begin gradually reopening the country in order to protect the economy.
Medical experts and Mandetta fear such steps will cause a jump in the number of coronavirus cases and place unbearable strain on Brazil’s public health service. Intensive care units in several major Brazilian cities are already reported to be full or nearly full because of Covid-19.
“God help us all,” Mandetta told Eliane Cantanhêde, one of Brazil’s top political commentators, on Thursday after being fired, according to her account of a phone call with him.
Ominously for those who fear Bolsonaro’s plans will prove deadly for Brazil’s 211 million citizens, Mandetta reportedly added: “A completely different social dynamic is coming, which changes everything.”
Updated
The activist Greta Thunberg has continued her school strike for the climate from the safety of her own home.
School strike week 87. #climatestrikeonline #StayAtHome #fridaysforfuture #schoolstrike4climate #flattenthecurve pic.twitter.com/A81O8vbDrH
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) April 17, 2020
Last month, the Swedish teenager said it was “extremely likely” she had the Covid-19 virus. She issued an urgent warning to other young people to take the virus seriously, even if they themselves were often only facing mild symptoms.
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Spain’s attempts to provide a more comprehensive overview of the coronavirus across the country’s 17 autonomous regions appear to be running into problems.
Last night, the government ordered all the regions to change their criteria for reporting deaths, infections and recoveries. It said that all deaths of people who had tested positive for Covid-19 needed to be recorded, whether they occurred in hospitals, homes or care homes.
On Friday, health ministry figures put the total number of cases in Spain at 188,068 – up 5,252 from the previous day. That suggests an overnight increase in new cases of 2.9%, which is well in line with recent daily increases – and markedly down from the 38% daily rise seen when the state of emergency was declared in Spain just over a month ago.
The same set of figures show an overnight death toll of 348 – well down on recent days. But speaking at his daily press conference, the head of Spain’s centre for health emergencies put the overnight death toll at 585.
The new recording and reporting criteria also seem to have skewed the number of cured people. On Thursday, the health ministry said that 74,797 people across Spain had recovered. Twenty-four hours later, the total had dropped to 72,963.
“We’ve had a problem with one autonomous region that was using two sources of information, and we’ve come across some information that lacks the consistency we try to ensure when we offer figures,” Fernando Simón told reporters.
Simón said the new data meant that past statistics needed to be revised and warned that it would be hard to gauge the coronavirus’s true impact “until the epidemic is over”.
Official figures from the health ministry are based only on deaths of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus. But a lot of people are likely to have died from the virus without having been tested, meaning their deaths do not figure in the official count.
This is particularly the case in care homes, where thousands of people have died untested, but showing symptoms consistent with the coronavirus. According to figures analysed by El País, at least 11,600 people have died of the virus – or displaying symptoms associated with it – in Spanish care homes.
Those deaths would account for almost two-thirds of the nationwide fatalities.
Updated
The Jamaican bobsledder Sam Clayton Jr, who inspired the popular Cool Runnings movie, died late last month of coronavirus.
The 58-year-old was part of the Jamaican bobsleigh team that qualified for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada.
Clayton is survived by his wife, Annie, a daughter, three sons and three grandchildren.
Updated
Some European countries are beginning to ease lockdown restrictions on social life, transport and cross-border travel. Reuters has a roundup of those that have announced plans:
- Austria: Allowed thousands of shops to reopen on 14 April, becoming one of the first countries in Europe to loosen the lockdown. Shopping centres, larger shops and hairdressers are due to open from 1 May.
- Czech Republic: Shops will reopen on 20 April, larger stores to follow on 11 May, with restaurants and shopping malls returning to business on 8 June.
- Denmark: Will allow certain small businesses, such as hairdressers, beauty salons and driving schools, to reopen on 20 April, the government said on 17 April. The move comes after it began reopening day-care centres and schools this week in a first step towards gradually easing the lockdown.
- Germany: Will allow partial reopening of shops next week, and schools and hairdressers from 4 May. However, social distancing rules will remain in place until 3 May.
- Norway: Will ease curbs gradually, starting with the reopening of kindergartens on 20 April and schools from first to fourth grade a week later. The ban on hairdressers and makeup salons, as well as on the use of mountain cabins, will also be lifted in April.
- Poland: Will reopen parks and forests from 20 April and ease limits on the numbers of people in shops, the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said on 16 April, adding that he planned to ease the lockdown further every week or two.
Updated
France’s state-supported tracing app project StopCovid will not be ready when parliament debates it at the end of the month, the minister for digital affairs, Cédric O, said on Friday.
He added that the app may not even be ready by 11 May, when the government plans to gradually lift the country’s nationwide lockdown.
Privacy campaigners have raised questions about the impact of the smartphone app - which tells users if they came into contact with a coronavirus carrier - on civil liberties.
Reuters reports that a debate is scheduled in France’s National Assembly on 28-29 April, but no formal vote is planned.
Updated
Spain’s overnight death toll from the coronavirus rose to 585 on Friday, up from 551 on Thursday, Reuters reports.
The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has decreased since the peak of the outbreak in early April when the country was registering over 900 deaths a day.
The number of overall coronavirus cases rose to 188,068 on Friday from 182,816 on Thursday, a 2.9% increase.
Britain will expand its criteria of who will be tested to include the police, fire service, judiciary and others, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said on Friday. There is currently capacity for 10,000 more tests a day to be carried out.
He said:
Now we’ve got the curve under control, I want to be able to get back to the position that we can test everybody with symptoms and I anticipate being able to do that relatively soon because we’re increasing capacity as I say.
I can now give you the full figures for yesterday – at midday yesterday, we had done 18,665 tests in the previous 24 hours, 16,166 from pillar one, 2,323 from pillar two, and 176 from pillar four.
So I know history of testing is going to be a long debated subject. What really matters is what we’re going to do from here on in.
And what I can tell you is that today we are able to expand the eligibility for testing which is currently for patients, for surveys and for NHS and social care staff, and some that go to LRFs for local urgent need.
I can today expand the eligibility for testing to police, the fire service, prison staff, critical local authority staff, the judiciary and DWP staff who need it and we’re able to do that because of the scale-up of testing.
Updated
Summary
- Global coronavirus cases pass 2.1 million. The total number of coronavirus cases across the world has reached at least 2,158,250, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases of coronavirus registered globally passed 1.5 million on 9 April. Deaths have passed 144,000.
- German health minister says pandemic’s spread has become “controllable”. He was speaking as the reproduction number of the Covid-19 virus sank to a new low in the country. Spain’s overnight death toll from coronavirus meanwhile rose to 585 on Friday, up from 551 on Thursday but still far off figures of more than 900 registered during the peak of the outbreak in early April. Its number of overall coronavirus cases rose to 188,068 on Friday from 182,816 on Thursday, a 2.9% increase.
- Jair Bolsonaro accused of leading Brazilians “to the slaughterhouse”. The country’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accused the incumbent of criminally irresponsible handling of coronavirus as Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll hit 1,924.
- Indonesia becomes south-east Asian country with most infections. The state reported 407 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of cases to 5,923 and surpassing the Philippines as the country with the highest number of infections in south-east Asia.
- World’s biggest trial of Covid-19 drugs starts in UK. The Recovery trial has recruited more than 5,000 patients in 165 NHS hospitals around the UK in a month, ahead of similar trials in the US and Europe, which have a few hundred.
- Wuhan death toll revised up 50%. Wuhan’s prevention and control taskforce has revised the death toll in Wuhan upwards by 50%, from 2,579 to 3,869. The updated figure comes after weeks of scepticism about the reported death toll, as other countries have seen fatalities reach more than 10,000.
- China’s GDP shrinks 6.8% in March quarter. China has reported its first ever quarterly contraction at 6.8%, its slowest pace on record. China’s economy has not recorded a contraction since 1992 when the country began publishing quarterly GDP data. In 2019, China had already posted its slowest growth in almost 30 years.
- Donald Trump has issued guidelines for reopening the country, with three phases each dependent on states meeting certain criteria. The US president says states who meet phase 1 criteria can reopen tomorrow (on Friday), and that 29 states will reopen “relatively soon”.
- UN warns pandemic is turning into a ‘child-rights crisis’. The social and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is potentially catastrophic for millions of children, according to a UN report launched Thursday. It said Covid-19 was turning into a broader child-rights crisis.
- Japan declares nationwide state of emergency. Japan has expanded its state of emergency to cover the entire country. A third Japanese cabinet official has also tested positive for the virus.
Updated
Germany’s health minister says the pandemic’s spread has become “controllable”, as the reproduction number of the Covid-19 virus sank to a new low in the country.
Jens Spahn, a politician for the conservative CDU, said there was now enough evidence to declare the lockdown strategy a success, citing a lowering of the relative day-on-day growth of the pandemic in Germany.
Since 12 April, the daily number of people who have recovered from the virus in Germany has been higher than the recorded number of new infections.
“We have managed to bring dynamic growth back to linear growth”, Spahn said. “As of today, the outbreak is once again controllable or more controllable.”
The president of the Robert Koch Institute, the central body in charge of disease control, cited Friday’s new reproduction number of 0.7 as a sign the country’s measures were working.
The latest number, said Lothar Wieler, “means that by now every infected person no longer on average infects another person”.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Merkel had stressed the importance of keeping the virus’s reproduction number below 1.
The Covid-19 mortality rate in Germany, which had drawn a lot of attention in the early phase of the pandemic, has meanwhile increased to 2.9%.
Updated
Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by 89 in the past 24 hours to reach 4,958 on Friday, according to a health ministry spokesman.
The total number of cases of infection reached 79,494, of which 3,563 were in critical condition, Kianush Jahanpur told state television.
A parliamentary report released earlier this week said the coronavirus death toll might be almost double the figures announced by the health ministry, and the number of infections eight to 10 times more.
Updated
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Spain rose to 188,068 on Friday, the country’s head of health emergencies, Fernando Simon, said at a news conference.
Health authorities identified 5,252 new cases of the virus between Thursday and Friday, which represents a 2.9% increase.
Updated
Denmark will begin to open up more businesses next week as it further eases virus restrictions, officials have announced.
Following late-night negotiations between the main political parties, the government announced a deal for extending the first phase in the country’s return to normality, the AFP news agency reports.
“No one wants to keep Denmark closed for a day more than strictly necessary. But we must not move faster than what allows us to still keep the epidemic under control,” the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said in a Facebook post.
Denmark began reopening schools for younger children on Wednesday after a month-long closure to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, becoming the first country in Europe to do so.
Hairdressers and tattoo parlours will start to reopen from Monday, and driving schools will start giving lessons again.
Updated
Malaysian health officials have reported 69 new coronavirus cases, the lowest daily increase since the government imposed curbs on movement and business on 18 March, taking the cumulative total to 5,251 cases.
The health ministry also reported two new deaths, bringing the total to 86.
Updated
Bolsonaro leading Brazilians 'to the slaughterhouse' – Lula
Jair Bolsonaro is leading Brazilians “to the slaughterhouse” with his criminally irresponsible handling of coronavirus, the country’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said.
In an impassioned interview with the Guardian – which came as Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll hit 1,924 – Lula said that by undermining social distancing and defenestrating his own health minister, Brazil’s “troglodyte” leader risked repeating the devastating scenes playing out in Ecuador, where families have had to dump their loved ones’ corpses in the streets.
“Unfortunately I fear Brazil is going to suffer a great deal because of Bolsonaro’s recklessness … I fear that if this grows Brazil could see some cases like those horrific, monstrous images we saw in Guayaquil,” said the 74-year-old leftist.
“We can’t just want to topple a president because we don’t like him,” Lula admitted. “[But] if Bolsonaro continues to commit crimes of responsibility … [and] trying to lead society to the slaughterhouse – which is what he is doing – I think the institutions will need to find a way of sorting Bolsonaro out. And that will mean you’ll need to have an impeachment.”
Read the full interview here.
Updated
Further problems around the UK’s plans for testing are being flagged up at a committee hearing by British MPs, which you can watch here.
Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, the professional body for British nurses, has told the House of Commons health committee that she has heard cases of nurses driving two hours to a testing centre and then being turned away.
Prof Anthony Costello, professor of global health and sustainable development at UCL’s Institute for Global Health and a former director at the World Health Organization (WHO), has said meanwhile that the UK seems to be facing the highest death rates in Europe.
My colleague Andrew Sparrow is liveblogging those proceedings here. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, will also face questions after the initial witnesses.
Updated
Indonesia becomes south-east Asian country with most infections
Indonesia has reported 407 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of cases to 5,923 and surpassing the Philippines as the country with the highest number of infections in south-east Asia.
The health ministry official Achmad Yurianto also reported 24 new deaths attributed to the disease, taking the total to 420, and said Indonesia had performed 42,000 tests for the virus.
CNN Indonesia has been streaming the briefing here.
Indonesia’s government has been accused of failing to act quickly, after initially downplaying the threat of the virus in the country. It wasn’t until 2 March that a first case was confirmed in Indonesia, prompting fears that the virus may have been left to spread, especially in the country’s densely populated capital.
Updated
World's biggest trial of Covid-19 drugs starts in UK
The world’s biggest trial of drugs to treat Covid-19 patients has been set up in the UK at unprecedented speed, and hopes to have some answers within weeks.
The Recovery trial has recruited more than 5,000 patients in 165 NHS hospitals around the UK in a month, ahead of similar trials in the US and Europe, which have a few hundred.
“This is by far the largest trial in the world,” said Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at Oxford University, who is leading it. He has previously led Ebola drug trials in west Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The Recovery team expects to be the first to have definitive data. “We’re guessing some time in June we may get the results,” said Horby.
“If it is really clear that there are benefits, an answer will be available quicker.” But he warned that in the case of Covid-19, there would be no “magic bullet”.
Updated
On the stock markets, European shares have been clawing back weekly declines as financial markets globally drew comfort from Donald Trump’s plans for a gradual re-opening of the US economy and reports of a potential drug to treat Covid-19.
Lifting the mood was a report detailing encouraging partial data from trials of the US drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental drug remdesivir in severe Covid-19 patients.
“If proven effective, remdesivir would be a game-changer in the Covid-19 pandemic fight, especially being a legacy drug that has been around for many years,” said Jeffrey Halley, a market analyst at the exchange company OANDA.
Our business blog has those developments and more here.
Updated
Ireland has contained and effectively suppressed coronavirus in the population at large, a tribute to early and successful action by authorities and the public.
The bad news is the pandemic continues to wreak havoc in care homes, which account for more than 300 of the 486 recorded deaths. “The data clearly shows that there are two very different experiences of Covid-19 in Ireland today,” the chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, told a media briefing.
The daily number of deaths nationwide reached a new high of 43 on Thursday but the number of new cases of Covid-19 has plateaued and should soon fall, according to the National Public Health Emergency Team.
Since 3 April the growth rate in new cases has been close to zero and the number in intensive care units has stabilised. The reproduction number of the disease is now estimated at 0.7 to 1, a steep fall from the outset of the pandemic when an infected person infected around 4.5 other people.
However almost one-third of nursing homes have the Covid-19 virus, according to the Health Information and Quality Authority. Some experts are calling it a catastrophe.
Separately, there is concern that earlier this week almost 200 fruit pickers flew from Bulgaria to Dublin on a Ryanair flight that allegedly lacked social distancing measures on board.
Irish media cited a letter purporting to be from a Ryanair employee which said the chartered flight had put cabin crew at risk. Some politicians complained, saying it made no sense to import seasonal workers in the teeth of a pandemic when people in Ireland could not travel more than 2km from home.
Updated
Hundreds of foreign-born doctors, including refugees, have signed up to become medical support workers as part of a new scheme aimed at helping the UK’s National Health Service tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
NHS England launched the initiative for international medical graduates and doctors after calls to fast track the accreditation of overseas medics.
The NHS plans to deploy the workers, who have passed an English language exam, in small numbers initially.
The UN’s refugee chief this week called for more countries to allow refugee medical professionals to tackle the health crisis.
Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, has praised the “selfless determination” of medical professionals who have already responded.
Updated
The Afghan government is seeking more foreign aid to fight coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases reached 906 amid a surge of infections in Kandahar and Helmand.
Some 66 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours, health ministry officials said. Of the new cases, 26 were recorded in the capital city, Kabul, which is under a lockdown.
The government extended the Kabul lockdown on Thursday for three more weeks and warned of more severe restrictions on movements.
Updated
Russia has reported 4,069 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, up from 3,448 on the previous day, according to the Moscow-based Interfax news agency.
On Tuesday Vladimir Putin warned officials to brace for “complex and extraordinary” scenarios in Russia as a result of the outbreak.
On Monday, the overall nationwide tally stood at 18,328 and the death toll was 148 as officials tightened lockdown restrictions in Moscow.
Updated
The UN refugee agency is to give cash donations to 110,000 families in Iraq to help buy basic hygiene items that it hopes will slow the spread of Covid-19 among refugee communities.
UNHCR says the handouts could reach as many as 550,000 people across the country, where several million people remain displaced after 17 years of war, insurrection and widespread state graft. First payments were made on Wednesday.
“During these difficult times, we must support those who were forced to flee their homes,” said Philippa Candler, acting representative of UNHCR in Iraq. “Like all of us, they are worried for their families and for themselves, but they don’t have the necessary means to protect themselves. Cash will help them buy basic hygiene items, which is an essential preventive measure.”
The threat posed by coronavirus if it enters the region’s refugee or internally displaced populations is being seen as an extreme public health emergency – which could dwarf the impact of the virus on the developed world.
Across Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, as many as 10 million refugees have crossed borders fleeing war or persecution. In Syria alone, at least 6 million people are thought to remain internally displaced.
Cash for hygiene items 💵👉🧼🤝🚿🧴🧽
— UNHCR Iraq (@UNHCRIraq) April 17, 2020
UNHCR cash assistance helps over 110,000 refugee, internally displaced, and returnee families in Iraq to combat #COVID19.
📰👉 https://t.co/5gpFPQKaeR pic.twitter.com/o8ZYwOSmga
Updated
China defends 50% revision of Covid-19 death toll in Wuhan
China’s foreign ministry has been defending the state’s approach after Wuhan’s prevention and control taskforce revised the death toll in the Chinese city upwards by 50% – from 2,579 to 3,869.
The ministry said authorities had conducted a “statistical verification” of its Covid-19 toll to ensure accuracy in what it said was a common international practice, Reuters reports.
There had never been a cover-up of the figures around the outbreak, the ministry added.
Citing the number of patients who had died at home before reaching hospital, as well as late and inaccurate reporting, Wuhan’s taskforce on virus prevention and control had said earlier: “Every loss of life during the epidemic is not just a source of sorrow for their family, but for the city as well. We would like to send our sincere sympathies to the family members.”
Updated
Myanmar has announced that it is releasing almost 25,000 prisoners under a presidential amnesty marking this week’s traditional new year celebration.
The release for the Thingyan holiday was announced in a statement from President Win Myint’s office. Mass amnesties on the holiday are not unusual, though the number this year was the highest in recent memory.
The president’s statement did not say if the release was related to calls to free them because of the hazard of contracting Covid-19 in the close quarters of prison.
Updated
Senior figures from the Scottish National party, which heads the devolved government based in Edinburgh, have said they won’t shy away from taking a different path to the rest of the UK if necessary.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, told the BBC’s Today programme: “If I was being advised and the judgment I was applying to that advice told me that I had to do something different to the rest of the UK because it was right and necessary to control the virus in Scotland, of course I would do that, but I will be driven by what advice science and my own judgment are telling me the right thing to do is.”
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said earlier: “Of course we took action when we considered it appropriate to close schools in Scotland. So there are powers the first minister, the government and the parliament in Edinburgh has and they will use those powers in the interest of the people of Scotland.
“That’s only right and proper that we do that, but we’ll seek to work collectively with the government in London.”
Updated
An organisation founded by the philanthropist George Soros has said it is to give more than $130m to combat Covid-19, with a focus on providing immediate relief for vulnerable communities and pushing back against what it described as government encroachment on political freedoms.
Cities including New York, London and Berlin will receive the funding, as well as Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Amman and Cape Town, according to the Open Societies Foundation.
Soros said: “The scale of this pandemic has laid bare the faultlines and injustices of our world.
“We missed the opportunity to create a more just economy after the financial crisis of 2008 and provide a social safety net for the workers who are the heart of our societies. Today, we must change direction and ask ourselves: what kind of world will emerge from this catastrophe, and what can we do to make it a better one?”
Parts of the package include:
- Nearly $42m to support low-income workers, including in the informal sector, care-givers, and undocumented refugees, migrants and asylum seekers.
- $37m for initiatives to support workers and their families in New York City, home to Open Society’s largest office.
- $3m for Europe, including both London and Berlin, for local groups countering disinformation and helping vulnerable people, such as senior citizens.
Updated
Japan has started distributing reusable cloth face masks dubbed “Abenomasks” after the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, whose decision to issue two per household has been met with mockery by some.
Abe announced the measure on 1 April as part of a wider package of emergency policies to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, saying the delivery of cloth masks would help ease a nationwide shortage.
The decision attracted ridicule, particularly given the scanty size of the coverings. They sit over a much smaller portion of the face than the disposable surgical masks that have become ubiquitous in Japan in recent months.
The cloth coverings have become widely referred to as “Abenomasks”, meaning “Abe’s masks” and a play on the prime minister’s much-touted “Abenomics” economic programme.
About 50m households across the country will receive two masks each, delivered by Japan Post, the AFP news agency reported.
Updated
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has reiterated his calls for face masks to be worn as the UK is “being an outlier” in not following the policy.
“I think their advice should change and the government’s advice should change so that in those circumstances where it is not possible for us to keep our social distance – think of public transport usage, think of when you’re in a shop – we should be using non-medical facial coverings like bandanas, like scarves, like reusable masks,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He added: “The evidence I’ve seen is if you wear a non-medical facial covering it doesn’t necessarily limit your changes of catching the virus. What it does do, if you yourself are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic, it reduces the chances of you giving the virus to somebody else.”
Updated
A coronavirus contact-tracing app will be ready for Germans to download and use on their smartphones in three to four weeks, the health minister, Jens Spahn, has said.
German federal and state government leaders said on Wednesday they would support voluntary use of a contact-tracing app, when available, so people can quickly learn when they have been exposed to an infected person.
Developers are working hard on an app to make sure data protection standards are “as perfect as possible”, Spahn told the broadcaster ARD.
“For it to be really good, it needs more like three to four weeks rather than two weeks,” Spahn said.
Updated
In relation to that last post, the UK’s government has been accused of being too slow to enlist British textile firms to make protective gear for the NHS, according to industry figures, who say they have been desperate to contribute to the “war effort”.
Faced with a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), the Cabinet Office has only recently begun scrambling to source it from UK suppliers and has now outsourced the process to consultants from the accountancy group Deloitte, reports the Guardian’s Rob Davies.
But industry figures said too much emphasis had been placed on high-profile names such as Burberry, the luxury fashion house that the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said on 3 April was producing medical gowns.
Kate Hills, the founder of Make It British, which promotes brands that manufacture in the UK, said the government was ignoring less-well-known textile specialists in favour of household names that played well with the public. “They’re just picking out brand names,” she said.
Updated
The head of an NHS trust – one of the organisational units within the UK’s National Health Service – has asked for the help of a British fashion company as he fears his staff will soon run out of hospital gowns.
The man, who wished to remain anonymous and was reported to be from a trust in southern England, phoned the BBC’s business reporter Simon Browning and asked for the factory phone number of Burberry, which has turned over its production to make PPE for healthcare workers.
As reported on BBC Radio 4, the man said his staff will run out of gowns this weekend and described health secretary Matt Hancock’s denial of a PPE shortage across the UK as a “fantasy”.
Burberry is among a list of labels including Barbour, Louis Vuitton and Philip Treacy to have pledged to manufacture equipment crucial to fighting Covid-19.
As weekend approaches, he doesn’t know what to do. Can’t get supplies. He is banging his head against desk and getting nowhere. He says - ‘THE OFFICIAL LINE THAT NHS DON’T HAVE A SHORTAGE IS FANTASY’ (2)
— Simon Browning (@simbrowning) April 16, 2020
Updated
As people in the UK awake to morning bulletins and front pages reporting that the lockdown in the country could last into June, the government’s strategy will face scrutiny last this morning when MPs question the health minister, Matt Hancock.
That hearing - in which the health committee chaired by a predecessor of Hancock, Jeremy Hunt - is due to take place at 10.30 (UK time). We’ll be covering it on our UK blog which will be up and running in a while.
This is Ben Quinn in London manning the global blog, which will bring you coverage of developments around the world, as well as highlights from the UK.
Updated
The healthcare system in Belarus is being propped up by volunteers and crowdfunding campaigns as the country grapples with a coronavirus pandemic its president has been hesitant to admit exists.
Belarus has attracted international headlines for its delayed response, continuing to host Europe’s only active football league, as the president, Alexander Lukashenko, dismissed the pandemic as a “psychosis”.
“No one in the country will die from coronavirus,” Lukashenko declared publicly earlier this week.
Meanwhile, a human rights activist and volunteer worker, Andrej Stryzhak, has cofounded the #bycovid19 group to crowdfund, acquire and deliver equipment and protective clothing to medics and other frontline personnel, one of many local initiatives by NGOs and businesses.
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. My colleague Ben Quinn is here to take you through the day’s coronavirus pandemic news.
Today’s sign off, in the spirit of living our weekends vicariously through others, celebrates these sleepy – and decidedly non socially-distanced – lions:
Hear me snore:
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 17, 2020
Lions and other wild animals have been taking advantage of the peace and quiet in South Africa’s vast Kruger national park as the country’s coronavirus lockdown continues.https://t.co/HspopWZ0Du pic.twitter.com/3oe0fH6cQM
And these well-travelled crabs:
WHO FLEW WITH CRABS?! pic.twitter.com/c0cux6Jyyi
— Reese Waters (@reesewaters) April 16, 2020
Updated
Coronavirus latest: at a glance
A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak.
Here are a few of the UK front pages for Friday 17 April 2020:
Friday’s GUARDIAN: Lockdown may last into June as pressure builds over exit strategy #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/1DrdiNy2xP
— Helen Miller (@MsHelicat) April 16, 2020
Friday’s INDEPENDENT: No lifting the lockdown #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/aFPYJzYrCU
— Helen Miller (@MsHelicat) April 16, 2020
Friday’s FT: Macron warns EU will unravel unless bloc embraces financial solidarity #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/FhpFqxweDX
— Helen Miller (@MsHelicat) April 16, 2020
Friday’s TIMES: Raab points to ‘light at end of the tunnel’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/vGfLnUhk8V
— Helen Miller (@MsHelicat) April 16, 2020
Updated
Papua New Guinea’s prime minister has been tested for Covid-19 after he was exposed to the virus by a customs agent.
Dickson Sorariba reports from Port Moresby:
James Marape is among a number of officials leading the country’s response to coronavirus who was tested. Their samples have been flown to the Australian city of Brisbane, with results expected by Friday afternoon.
The National Operations Centre, which is the country’s nerve centre for the fight against the spread of the virus, is under lockdown and surrounded by security. Staff have been instructed to self isolate at home. The functions of NOC have been moved to an alternative location.
On Friday the state of emergency controller, David Manning, issued new emergency directives to contain the virus. They include: an 8pm-6am curfew, a ban on all public gatherings and public transport, and an outright liquor ban.
The new orders cover the nation’s capital, Port Morseby and two neighbouring provinces, Central and Western. Western province, which shares the border with Indonesia, has recorded three cases among the traditional border crossers.
You can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Singapore’s cramped migrant worker dorms hide Covid-19 surge risk
Singapore, praised for its gold standard approach to tracing coronavirus cases, is facing a surge in transmission linked to its cramped migrant workers’ dormitories, where thousands more infections are expected to emerge.
The health ministry reported 728 new cases on Thursday, the biggest rise in a single day, as medical teams raced to test and isolate workers living in vast dormitory blocks.
While Singapore has been lauded for its rapid and comprehensive approach to contract tracing, officials have been accused of overlooking the dormitories, where thousands of workers live in close quarters and between 12 and 20 men might share a single room.
In March the campaign group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) urged officials to make plans to protect workers, warning: “The risk of a new cluster among this group remains undeniable.” Authorities are resorting to moving men to multi-storey car parks, military camps and floating hotels in an attempt to reduce crowding.
Deaths pass 145,000
According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, more than 145,000 people have now lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic.
The sombre milestone comes as Wuhan’s prevention and control taskforce revised the death toll in Wuhan upwards by 50%, from 2,579 to 3,869.
The global case count passed 2.1 million on Friday, with 2,158,033 confirmed infections.
The ten countries with the highest number of confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins, are as follows:
- US: 667,225 (33,286 deaths)
- Spain: 184,948 (19,315 deaths)
- Italy: 168,941 (22,170 deaths)
- France: 147,091 (17,941 deaths)
- Germany: 137,698 (4,052 deaths)
- United Kingdom: 104,145 (13,759 deaths)
- China: 83,403 (4,636 deaths)
- Iran: 77,995 (4,869 deaths)
- Turkey: 74,193 (1,643 deaths)
- Belgium: 34,809 (4,857 deaths)
China economy shrinks for first time as Wuhan Covid-19 death toll is increased by 1,300
China’s economy shrank 6.8% in the three months of 2020, the country’s first such contraction on record and a stark sign of the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The news came as Chinese authorities revised the death toll in Wuhan, the hardest hit city and where the virus first emerged, up by 50%, to 3,869 from 2,579.
Citing the number of patients who had died at home before reaching hospital, as well as late and inaccurate reporting, the city’s task force on virus prevention and control said: “Every loss of life during the epidemic is not just a source of sorrow for their family, but for the city as well. We would like to send our sincere sympathies to the family members.”
The economic contraction, reported by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Friday, comes after months of paralysis as the country went into lockdown to contain the virus, which emerged in central Hubei province in December. It has now infected more than 2 million people globally and killed more than 140,000.
Myanmar to release 25,000 prisoners amid virus fears
More than a quarter of Myanmar’s prison population is to be released, the president’s office announced Friday, as calls grow to ease pressure on overcrowded jails with coronavirus fears gripping the country.
The Southeast Asian nation grants an annual amnesty to thousands of prisoners to mark its April New Year holiday, but this is the largest ever recorded.
So far Myanmar has officially confirmed 85 cases of Covid-19, including four deaths, but experts fear the real number is many times more due to the low numbers tested.
The country is under a nationwide lockdown and there has been growing pressure to release inmates from what Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls “horribly overcrowded and unsanitary” jails.
The release would start immediately, a senior officer of the prison department in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw told AFP without giving further details.
Summary
-
Global coronavirus cases pass 2.1 million. The total number of coronavirus cases across the world has reached at least 2,158,250, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases of coronavirus registered globally passed 1.5 million on 9 April. Deaths have passed 144,000.
- Wuhan death toll revised up 50%. Wuhan’s prevention and control taskforce have revised the death toll in Wuhan upwards by 50%, from 2,579 to 3,869. The updated figure comes after weeks of scepticism about the reported death toll, as other countries have seen fatalities reach more than 10,000.
- China’s GDP shrinks 6.8% in March quarter. China has reported its first ever quarterly contraction at 6.8%, its slowest pace on record. China’s economy has not recorded a contraction since 1992 when the country began publishing quarterly GDP data. In 2019, China already posted its slowest growth in almost 30 years.
- Human Rights Watch warns of “tremendous danger” of virus resurgence in China, due to Beijing’s censorship and suppression during the coronavirus outbreak.
-
US president Donald Trump has issued guidelines for reopening the country, with three phases each dependent on states meeting certain criteria. Trump says states who meet Phase 1 criteria can reopen tomorrow (on Friday), and that 29 states will reopen “relatively soon”.
-
IMF predicts zero growth in Latin America and the Caribbean for decade to 2025. The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, combined with other problems in recent years, meant Latin America and the Caribbean would likely see “no growth” in the decade from 2015 to 2025.
- UN warns pandemic turning into a ‘child-rights crisis’. The social and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is potentially catastrophic for millions of children, according to a UN report launched Thursday. It said Covid-19 is turning into a broader child-rights crisis.
- The UK government announces lockdown extension for three weeks. The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, who is deputising for Boris Johnson as he recovers from Covid-19, confirmed the extension following advice from the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies.
- India brings culpable homicide charges against Muslim seminary chief, for holding a gathering last month that authorities blame for a big jump in coronavirus infections, police said on Thursday.
- 5 million more Americans sign on as unemployed. The US labour department announced that another 5.24 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, making a total of 22.2 million since 14 March.
- New Zealand has recorded its lowest new coronavirus cases, with 8 people found to be infected after 4241 tests were conducted in a single day, including at a random testing station set up outside a supermarket in the resort town of Queenstown.
- Japan declares nationwide state of emergency. Japan has expanded its state of emergency to cover the entire country. A third Japanese cabinet official has also tested positive for the virus.
Updated
Quartz writes of the revised Wuhan figures:
Many people, including Wuhan residents, have long been skeptical of the city’s low official death toll. Evidence of government cover-ups is rife, from the silencing of initial whistleblowers to the revelation that state leaders hushed up the crisis for at least six crucial days, so distrust of official tallies runs deep. Extrapolating from their experiences of long lines at city hospitals and being turned away when seeking medical care, Wuhan residents have spoken openly about their belief that the real case count and the death toll must be higher than currently reported.
Here is some of our earlier reporting on Wuhan:
Wuhan death toll rises 50%
Wuhan’s prevention and control taskforce have revised the death toll in Wuhan upwards by 50%, from 2,579 to 3,869. The updated figure comes after weeks of scepticism about the reported death toll, as other countries have seen fatalities reach more than 10,000.
The agency said reasons for the change included adding the number of patients unable to reach hospitals, late, mistaken or double reporting, as well as difficulty linking information reported from private hospitals, temporary hospitals and other medical institutions that handled patients.
“Life and the people are paramount. Every loss of life during the epidemic is not just a source of sorrow for their family, but the city as well. We would like to send our sincere sympathies to the family members of those who died during the epidemic, as well as our comrades and medical staff who sacrificed their lives,” it said.
Updated
India has banned the use of video-conferencing app Zoom for government remote meetings, the government said Thursday, in the latest warning about the platform’s security,
The app has become the global go-to service for everything from education to exercise classes as millions stay home.
“This advisory states that the platform is not for use by government officers/officials for official purposes,” the Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement Thursday, referring to the guidelines it had issued Sunday. “Zoom is not a safe platform,” the statement said.
Last week Taiwan advised government agencies against using videoconferencing apps with security concerns, such as Zoom.
And Singapore on Tuesday allowed teachers to resume using Zoom after suspending it last week, when gatecrashers interrupted a class and made lewd comments.
Flights deporting Guatemalan migrants from the United States will again be temporarily suspended, Guatemala’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, after a mass infection of the new coronavirus was reported on a recent flight.
The Associated Press reported 44 of 76 Guatemalan migrants who arrived in the country on a US deportation flight on Monday subsequently tested positive for the highly contagious coronavirus that causes a respiratory illness.
When contacted by Reuters, the government did not immediately confirm the report, which cited an unnamed Guatemalan official.
A spokesman for the foreign ministry confirmed deportation flights have been temporarily suspended but gave no further details.
Later on Thursday, a spokesman for the presidency said Guatemala would test deportees again regardless of whether they had been tested before.
Deportation flights had only started again on Monday after a five-day suspension. The health ministry says that in total, five deportees have tested positive for the virus since March.
The IMF on Thursday approved nearly $1.4bn in emergency aid to Pakistan to help it weather the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan has recorded just over 100 deaths and 6,919 cases, but experts have voiced fear that the country of 215 million people could see a rapid and devastating increase due to its shortage of medical infrastructure and crowded cities.
Worried about hurting an already weak economy, Prime Minister Imran Khan has resisted a sweeping, nationwide lockdown but provinces have shuttered schools and companies.
The IMF said it was providing the $1.386 billion under a so-called rapid financing instrument, which addresses emergencies and does not subject a country to a full-fledged reform program that undergoes review.
Pakistan is a longtime recipient of help from the IMF and is already under a three-year, $6bn program that was approved last year.
Okamoto said Pakistan needed to recommit to its goals under the package once the crisis abates, including restoring its public finances and governance.
As we scuttle along to the weekend:
Sure, I can get you all out of the country...
— Tom Cullen (@TomCullen) April 16, 2020
For a price. pic.twitter.com/MGpZGzVAls
Podcast: The story of one care home hit by coronavirus
Julie Roche is a manager of a Buckinghamshire care home that usually has 45 residents. In the past few weeks she has lost 13 patients to Covid-19. She discusses the devastating impact this has had on families, staff and her remaining residents.
UN warns pandemic turning into a 'child-rights crisis'
The social and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is potentially catastrophic for millions of children, according to a UN report launched Thursday.
It said Covid-19 is turning into a broader child-rights crisis, AP reports.
In a video statement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pointed to almost all students out of school, family stress levels rising as communities face lock-downs, and reduced household income expected to force poor families to cut back on essential health and food expenditures, particularly affecting children.
#COVID19 has upended the lives of children worldwide.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 16, 2020
With many children in jeopardy, I appeal to leaders at all levels to do everything in their power to cushion the impact of the pandemic - and protect our children.https://t.co/281j5I3eLV pic.twitter.com/MppCf5UlT8
Guterres said the global recession that is gathering pace as a result of the pandemic and the measures being taken to mitigate it could lead to hundreds of thousands additional child deaths in 2020. According to the report, this would effectively reverse the last two to three years of progress in reducing infant mortality within a single year.
The estimate of hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths came from a 2011 paper by three economists Sarah Baird, Jed Friedman, and Norbert Schady who investigated the impact of income shocks, like a recession, on infant mortality.
Updated
Trump’s ‘science based’ reopening strategy is still full of unanswered questions
On Thursday Donald Trump unveiled federal staggered guidelines for getting America back to business after the shutdown forced by the coronavirus pandemic. He had previously billed it as the most important decision of his presidency, but what he called “a science-based reopening” was messier and more ill-defined.
First, the good news. The 18-page document explicitly used the word “guidelines” – a far cry from the “total authority” he claimed earlier this week. It delegates authority to state governors and city mayors to weigh the risk-to-reward ratio of opening businesses, churches and schools, which is the way it should be. It also recognises the need to move gradually with baby steps, and the fact that America is vast – roughly the same size as Europe – with different needs in different places.
But there are plenty of ambiguities. The guidelines do not give a firm target date. Trump said some states could reopen “tomorrow” but declined to name them. The guidelines emphasise the need for testing but do not make clear how many tests will be enough, nor set out a national testing strategy. Yet testing and contact tracing have been key to the relative success of countries such as Germany and South Korea.
You can’t leave that lion there: big cats nap on road in South Africa amid lockdown
Lions and other wild animals have been taking advantage of the peace and quiet in South Africa’s vast Kruger national park as the country’s strict lockdown continues.
On Thursday, park ranger Richard Sowry took photographs of a pride of at least eight lions, including a few young cubs, snoozing on the tarmac just outside one of the park’s rest lodges.
Kruger media officer Isaac Phaala told the BBC the lions would normally be in the bushes but that they were “very smart and now they are enjoying the freedom of the park without us”.
Updated
Quite a graph for China's GDP growth pic.twitter.com/iPaASFnMnU
— Graham Russell (@G_J_Russell) April 17, 2020
In Australia, 30 people at the Anglicare Newmarch House aged care facility in New South Wales have tested positive for Covid-19, a doubling in the number of cases associated with the facility overnight.
On Friday morning an Anglicare spokesman said 10 staff and 20 residents at the western Sydney facility had the virus, a marked increase from the six staff and nine residents diagnosed on Thursday.
An outbreak occurred in the home after a nurse worked for six days without knowing she had the virus, as she had only mild symptoms of a sore throat and running nose. Currently the federal government advice is that health and aged care workers can be tested if they develop fever or respiratory symptoms specifically. This guidance is the same for NSW.
New Zealand records lowest new cases
New Zealand has recorded its lowest ever number of new coronaviruses with 8 people found to be infected after 4241 tests were conducted in a single day, including at a random testing station set up outside a supermarket in the resort town of Queenstown.
There are just 4 days of level four lockdown left, with the prime minister set to announce the country’s next move - remaining at 4 or lowering to 3, allowing slightly fewer restrictions - on Monday.
Finance minister Grant Roberston said many countries were choosing to extend their lockdowns - including the UK and France - but this should not be taken as an indication of what decision cabinet would make on Monday.
“This is a long game - a marathon, not a short sprint,” Robertson said.
Third Japanese cabinet official tests positive
Staying in the region for now, Japan’s cabinet said on Friday an official had tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the third case among officials at the cabinet office.
The case inside the cabinet office comes as Japan has expanded a state of emergency to all regions. The move allows local municipalities to urge people to stay inside, but without punitive measures or legal force.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans a press conference later on Friday on the coronavirus, but details are not known yet.
Abe said on Thursday the government is considering cash payouts for all in an effort to cushion the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The infected cabinet official in his 50s, but had no close contact with ministers around when he developed symptoms from April 10, an official at the cabinet office said.
More now on the new figures for China:
Industrial output fell a less steeper-than-expected 1.1% in March from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday, as the coronavirus crisis and strict containment measures severely disrupted the world’s second-largest economy.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected industrial output to fall by 7.3% in March, moderating somewhat after plunging 13.5% in the first two months of the year.
Updated
China's GDP shrinks 6.8% in March quarter
China has reported its first ever quarterly contraction at 6.8%, its slowest pace on record.
The decline comes after almost three months of nationwide lockdown as the country battled the coronavirus, which emerged in December in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has infected more than 2 million people around the world.
China’s economy has not recorded a contraction since 1992 when the country began publishing quarterly GDP data. In 2019, China already posted its slowest growth in almost 30 years.
Over the last month, Chinese authorities have pushed to get the paralysed economy back up and running with businesses and factories re-opening and policies to help households and companies.
Analysts polled by Reuters estimate China’s yearly growth for 2020 will slow to 2.5% from 6.1% last year, the weakest pace since the last year of the Cultural Revolution.
China has reported more than 3,000 deaths and 80,000 infections from the coronavirus
Ouch! Worse than expected GDP wise with -6.8% YoY for Q1 & what's really bad is the March retail sales that fell --15.8%YoY in March & year to date is -19%.
— Trinh Nguyen (@Trinhnomics) April 17, 2020
FAI still fell -16.1% and property investment fell less thawn expected at -7.7% https://t.co/XYA2DCxJZw pic.twitter.com/BGrLF6ib9n
China GDP (economic growth)
— CommSec (@CommSec) April 17, 2020
March quarter: -6.8% (forecast -6.5%)#ausbiz #ausecon #markets #commsec #chinadata
Updated
At 8pm on Thursday, 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 against coronavirus for the fourth consecutive week.
Some people played instruments and sang to show their appreciation:
Updated
You can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Trump defers to governors in guidelines for reopening US amid pandemic
Donald Trump and his coronavirus taskforce have unveiled a set of federal guidelines for reopening the economy, which comprise three phases but ultimately defer to governors on when and how to return their state to normal.
The first phase allows for gradually returning to work while also minimizing non-essential travel. The second phase would allow for gatherings of 50 people and non-essential travel. The third allows for schools and organized youth activities to open up as well as large venues to operate under “physical distancing protocols”. The third phase would also allow bars to reopen but with “diminished standing room occupancy” when possible.
The guidelines were unveiled at the president’s daily coronavirus briefing on Thursday. They represent a dramatic shift from the strict stay-at-home orders currently in place in many states. In unveiling them Trump made clear his eagerness to end the nationwide lockdown and return the American economy to its pre-coronavirus days.
Mexico will begin to restrict movement between places most affected by the Covid-19 virus mostly large cities and places with few infections, the president said Thursday.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked authorities Thursday in towns so far unaffected by the pandemic to help us establish sanitary cordons to slow the spread. Travel between low-infection and high-infection areas would be permitted for “urgent, justifiable” reasons, but authorities would likely set up highway checkpoints to check travellers for symptoms. In the past, that has mainly meant taking their temperatures.
However, López-Gatell said the exact measures were still to be defined. He said coronavirus cases have been confirmed in about one-fifth of Mexicos roughly 2,470 townships and municipalities.
The government is also extending its social distancing measures for another month to the end of May, predicting that the epidemic will peak in Mexico in about three weeks.
Mexico has confirmed nearly 6,300 infections and reported about 485 deaths.
López-Gatell said health officials believe the real number of infections is probably eight times that. On Thursday he presented lists saying the country had nearly 56,000 estimated cases, though most remain untested. Mexico is currently running only about 4,000 tests per week, and has completed only about 21,250 tests so far.
Ten US nurses have been suspended for refusing to work without N95 masks, AP reports.
Nurses in Santa Monica, California, who refused to care for Covid-19 patients after they say hospital didn’t provide essential protective gear have been suspended.
The hospital suspended ten nurses, according to the National Nurses United, which represents them. The nurses are now being paid but are not allowed to return to work pending an investigation from human resources, the union said.
They are among hundreds of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers across the country who say they’ve been asked to work without adequate protection. Some have taken part in protests or lodged formal complaints. Others are buying or even making their own supplies.
Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention don’t require N95 masks for Covid-19 caregivers, but many hospitals are opting for the added protection because the infection is extremely contagious. The CDC said Wednesday at least 9,200 healthcare workers have been infected.
As South Africa’s lockdown continues, animals in the vast Kruger National Park are taking advantage of the peace and quiet.
On Monday, lions were spotted romping on the golf course inside the park:
— Kruger National Park (@SANParksKNP) April 13, 2020
Later in the week, ranger Richard Sowry took photographs of a pride sleeping just outside one of the rest camps.
Kruger media officer Isaac Phaala told the BBC the lions would normally be in the bushes but that they were “very smart and now they are enjoying the freedom of the park without us.”
The lions liked the road as it was dry, Phaala said. “The tar was drier than the grass at the time - big cats and water don’t mix.”
Kruger visitors that tourists do not normally see. #SALockdown This lion pride are usually resident on Kempiana Contractual Park, an area Kruger tourists do not see. This afternoon they were lying on the tar road just outside of Orpen Rest Camp.
— Kruger National Park (@SANParksKNP) April 15, 2020
📸Section Ranger Richard Sowry pic.twitter.com/jFUBAWvmsA
Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan handed out meals to sick people in Los Angeles, in their first known public activity since moving to California at the start of the state’s coronavirus lockdown.
The pair, who have formally stepped down as senior members of the British royal family, first volunteered with Project Angel Food last Sunday, delivering food to homes.
Project Angel Food delivers medically tailored food to chronically ill people and appears to be the first charity publicly supported by the pair since their secretive move.
“They were here Easter Sunday, and then they surprised us on Wednesday,” said Project Angel Food communications manager Anne-Marie Williams. “They handed out to 20 of our clients, and they rocked their worlds.”
A statement from the nonprofit said the pair “quietly continued delivering meals to relieve our overworked drivers,” who have faced an increased workload since the coronavirus lockdown began last month.
The couple relocated to California last month after announcing in January that they intended to quit royal life and “work to become financially independent”. They have kept a low profile, with even their location unknown amid unconfirmed reports that the pair are living in Malibu.
It emerged last week that they are planning to launch a wide-ranging non-profit organization in the United States named Archewell. It will include emotional support groups, a multimedia educational empire and a wellbeing website.
India brings culpable homicide charges against Muslim seminary chief
India has brought charges of culpable homicide against the chief of a Muslim seminary for holding a gathering last month that authorities blame for a big jump in coronavirus infections, police said on Thursday.
The headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat group in a cramped corner of New Delhi were sealed and thousands of followers, including some from Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, were taken into quarantine after it emerged they had attended meetings there in mid-March.
Authorities have said some of those infected at the gathering had died, although the numbers have not yet been released.
Police initially filed a case against Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi, the chief of the centre, for violating a ban on big gatherings but had now invoked the law against culpable homicide, a police spokesman said.
The Tablighi is one of the world’s biggest Sunni Muslim proselytising organisations with followers in more than 80 countries, promoting a pure form of Islam.
India has 12,759 cases of coronavirus and 420 deaths. In New Delhi, 1,080 of its 1,561 cases were linked to the group’s gathering, according to the city government data on Wednesday.
More now from Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth:
He says some governments were using the pandemic as an “opportunity for brutality”, citing Uganda, Kenya and El Salvador while other leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had been using the virus as a pretext for power-grabs.
Meanwhile, a denialist approach from US President Donald Trump and his Mexican and Brazilian counterparts would prove costly.
Trump’s “two-week delay in recognising the severity of the pandemic probably caused 90% of the deaths so far in the United States,” said Roth.
Roth said the response to the crisis echoed that of the September 2001 terror attacks when “governments seized that opportunity to over-react” with highly intrusive surveillance.
“The fear is that this kind of over-reach is happening again,” and “is going to be with us for a long time”.
Human Rights Watch warns of "tremendous danger" of virus resurgence in China
There is a “tremendous danger” of a Covid-19 resurgence in China due to Beijing’s censorship and suppression during the coronavirus outbreak, Human Rights Watch warned on Thursday.
Meanwhile the “culture of denialism” among the leaders of the United States, Mexico and Brazil was costing lives, HRW executive director Kenneth Roth told reporters in Geneva via a virtual press conference.
The non-governmental organisation’s chief said China was the “most notorious abuser” when it came to exploiting the pandemic to indulge in censorship. He said Beijing had allowed the virus to spread by having “censored and suppressed the Wuhan doctors” who first tried to warn of the outbreak there in December.
“That’s a classic example of how censorship is disastrous,” said Roth. “There’s a tremendous danger that censorship is going to permit the virus to reactivate,” he added.
President Xi Jinping “has almost staked his personal prestige on saying there is no more human to human transmission within China”, said Roth. “That message from Beijing that we don’t want accurate information but good news only is a recipe for the coronavirus’s re-emergence.”
Apple Inc said on Thursday it would reopen its sole retail store in South Korea on 18 April, marking it the first site to return to business after it closed all stores outside Greater China last month due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Once struggling with the first large outbreak outside China, South Korea has largely managed to bring its coronavirus cases under control without major disruptions thanks to a massive testing campaign and intensive contact tracing.
The iPhone maker reopened all 42 of its branded stores in China in March, more than a month after they were shut in the wake of the pandemic.
Apple’s plan of reopening the store in Seoul comes a day after it released a smaller iPhone priced at $399, to broaden its appeal to budget-conscious customers as the Covid-19 pandemic hobbles the global economy.
New York state will extend its stay-at-home restrictions at least through 15 May, amid signs the initial wave of the coronavirus outbreak has stopped getting worse.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that virus transmission rates still need to be tamed as he prolonged rules that have left many New Yorkers working from home, or out of a job entirely, and unable to gather in public since 22 March. The governor said the extension was made in consultation with other Northeast states and will be re-evaluated next month.
The number of people hospitalised statewide has ticked down to under 18,000 – far below initial projections. But there are still close to 2,000 newly diagnosed people coming into hospitals daily, Cuomo said.
New York recorded 606 Covid-19-related deaths Wednesday, the lowest daily number in more than a week. More than 12,000 people have died statewide in just over a month.
The governor also said he’s expanding the requirement starting Friday night that all residents wear face coverings when theyre out in public and within 6 feet of other people. He said that in addition to being required on subways and buses, coverings must be worn by drivers and passengers in for-hire vehicles.
New York City meanwhile is getting ready to use 11,000 empty hotel rooms for coronavirus quarantines.
Mayor Bill de Blasio also said the city is grappling with a projected $7.4bn loss in tax revenue because of the crisis.
The Trump administration has issued new guidelines for states, individuals and employers on how to gradually revive activity and ease up on social distancing in areas where coronavirus cases are on the decline.
The guidelines, distributed to governors Thursday, are published under the headline Opening Up America Again. They follow concerns voiced by President Donald Trump about the need to get more people back to work and shopping, as 22 million Americans lose their jobs.
Here is what needs to happen before states can enter Phase 1:
- A decline of documented Covid-19 cases within a 14-day period
- A robust testing program in place for at-risk health care workers
- A decline of influenza-like illnesses reported within a 14-day period
- Hospitals having enough protective gear for their workers and enough beds, ventilators and other needed supplies to treat all patients.
Updated
IMF predicts zero growth in Latin America and the Caribbean for decade to 2025
The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, combined with other problems in recent years, meant Latin America and the Caribbean would likely see “no growth” in the decade from 2015 to 2025.
Alejandro Werner, who heads the IMF’s Western Hemisphere department, said the global lender was racing to process 16 requests for emergency assistance, about half of which were from Caribbean nations devastated by a halt in tourism.
Other countries had asked about traditional IMF programs or extensions of existing financing arrangements, he said.
Summary
Hello and welcome to today’s coronavirus live blog with me, Helen Sullivan.
The White House has issued “Guidelines for Opening Up America Again”, which includes three phases of reopening each dependent on infections within a state.
Trump said 29 states will be able to start reopening soon – and that those who meet the requirements for Phase 1 will be able to do so as soon as Friday.
Elsewhere, Japan has extended its state of emergency to the entire country; the UK has extended its lockdown by three weeks; and Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has fired his health minister.
I’ll be with you for the next few hours – get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
- Global coronavirus cases pass 2.1 million. The total number of coronavirus cases across the world has reached at least 2,138,763, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases of coronavirus registered globally passed 1.5 million on 9 April. Deaths have passed 142,000.
- US president Donald Trump has issued guidelines for reopening the country, with three phases each dependent on states meeting certain criteria. Trump says states who meet Phase 1 criteria can reopen tomorrow (on Friday), and that 29 states will reopen “relatively soon”.
- Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has sacks his popular health minister Luiz Mandetta, after a weeks-long stand-off between the two men over radically different views of the coronavirus pandemic.
- The UK government announces lockdown extension for three weeks. The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, who is deputising for Boris Johnson as he recovers from Covid-19, confirmed the extension following advice from the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies.
- 5 million more Americans sign on as unemployed. The US labour department announced that another 5.24 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, making a total of 22.2 million since 14 March. The largest number of people to ask for unemployment benefits in a four-week period before the Covid-19 crisis came in 1992, when 2.7 million sought support.
- France registered 753 more deaths from coronavirus infections on Thursday, bringing the total to 17,920, the fourth highest tally in the world. But the number of people in hospital has declined for a second day running.
- Australia PM says more Covid-19 measures needed. Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, said the country had succeeding in flattening the infection curve but that a “more extensive surveillance regime” needed to be implemented if they were to forge “the road out” of lockdown.
- EU chief: ‘Europe owes Italy an apology’. Europe owes Italy “a heartfelt apology” for not offering assistance when the country was suffering in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak, the head of the European Union executive said.
- New York State lockdown extended to 15 May. Governor Andrew Cuomo also announced that starting on Friday, anyone aged two and older would be required to wear face coverings in public. Another 606 people have died from the virus in New York, the lowest figure in 10 days, bringing the total above 12,000 in the state.
- IMF: Asian economies will not grow this year. Economies in Asia will see zero growth this year for the first time in 60 years, the International Monetary Fund has said.
- Singapore reports biggest jump yet in cases. Singapore reported at least 728 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, the biggest jump yet in numbers in the city-state, which had fought hard to keep its outbreak under control.
- Japan declares nationwide state of emergency. Japan has expanded its state of emergency to cover the entire country. According to AFP, the declaration allows regional governors to urge people to stay indoors, but with no punitive measures or legal force the measure is weaker than strict lockdowns seen in other parts of the world.
- Facebook to warn users who ‘like’ misinformation. Facebook will begin showing notifications to users who have interacted with posts that contain “harmful” coronavirus misinformation, the company announced.
