We’ve launched a new live blog at the link below where we’ll be bringing you the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic:
Updated
In today’s White House press briefing Trump said the US has “tested more than any country in the world, even put together.”
This is false.
Overall, the US had administered more than 4.5m coronavirus tests, according to the Covid Tracking Project. From a very slow start, the US, with a population of 329m, had ramped up to a testing rate of one in every 100 people — similar to South Korea. Germany has done even better, testing every 1 in 63 people.
The UK, however, is behind, having tested only 1 in 230 people.
In America, despite the recent increase in testing, backlogs are reported in labs across the country, and many people with symptoms — including health workers — are still struggling to access tests
People in their 60s at higher coronavirus risk too, say scientists
UK guidance for people aged 70 and over to self-isolate is leaving people aged 60 to 69 at increased risk from coronavirus, say scientists.
Prof Azeem Majeed and colleagues at Imperial College London (ICL) noted that other countries had different policies and the World Health Organization said the highest risk was in over-60s.
According to a paper published by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, the death rate among people in their 70s is 8%, and the rate among those in their 60s is 3.6%, which the ICL scientists said was “still substantial”.
They recommend that the 7.3 million people in their 60s in the UK should be more careful about physical distancing and personal hygiene.
Get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Today’s White House press briefing has ended. We’ll have a summary for you shortly.
“The American people want to ensure that we have jobs for American people,” says Trump, not jobs for people who come in, “in many cases illegally.”
“We’ll see you all tomorrow and we’ll have a couple of interesting things for you tonight,” says Trump as he leaves the podium.
You can stream the White House press briefing live here:
Any other Billy Joel fans out there?
🎶is such a lonely word🎶 https://t.co/K8SYjIt7sd
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 21, 2020
The World Health Organization chief has just tweeted this:
Honesty.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 21, 2020
Trump: “We have one of the most successful, if you can call it, mortality rates... One person is too many, but we’ve tested more than any other country in the world, put together.” (This is not true).
Trump is now talking about China and the economy. He says part of the reason he was elected is that he is touch on China. He says the economy was doing really well, then out of nowhere came the “Invisible Enemy” (I’m using caps here because he does in his tweets about it), “and we’ll be talking a lot about where it came from.”
Updated
Real whopper from Trump a minute ago – he said the US has done more testing than “all other countries – combined”:
Trump lies, claims US has done more testing than all other countries combined (that's not true) pic.twitter.com/8rQestoXkI
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 21, 2020
#Trump - “We’re doing a great job on testing.” Also “not everyone wants to do such significant testing.”
— Michael Holmes (@holmescnn) April 21, 2020
Who? Everyone involved in scientific and medical side of fighting #coronavirus wants more testing
Also: “We’re doing more than everybody else combined. *Not true.
Trump says he will probably sign the executive order halting immigration on Wednesday (in the US).
After the 60 days he could “roll it for 30 days or roll it for much longer than 60 days,” he says.
Trump says there will be more information on the immigration ban soon.
“It’s a strong order. It involves a big circle, as you know.” The “big circle” in question appears to be the world.
Trump says he does not know Kim Jong-un’s condition. “I can only say this: I wish him well."
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) April 21, 2020
You can watch the White House press briefing live below:
Dr Birx says the US has one of the lowest mortality rates worldwide – meaning deaths per number of confirmed infections.
It’s worth remembering however that the US has the highest number of deaths – 44,228 according to Johns Hopkins University data – which is just under 20,000 more people who have died than in Italy, which has lost 24,648 people to the virus.
Trump also mentioned the mortality rate. From my colleague Maanvi Singh:
“Our mortality rate remains roughly half” that of other countries, Trump said, adding that the rate was “one of the lowest in any other country in the world.”
The president is half-right — the US does indeed appear to have a lower case fatality rate than several countries, including Italy, Belgium and the UK, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker.
The case fatality rate refers to the number of deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases. Johns Hopkins has calculated that figure for about 130 countries. but the US’s rate is far from the “lowest” of any country.
The US rate is 5.4% — more double the rate of Japan and South Korea (2.2%), and several times the rate of Singapore, with a rate. of .1%.
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, is speaking now. She says the US is still seeing outbreaks at aged care facilities.
Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Trump says the ban will apply to those seeking permanent residency and won’t apply to those seeking temporary residency.
Updated
Hi, Helen Sullivan with you now.
Donald Trump is speaking at the White House, where he is explaining the reasons behind his immigration ban, which he says will be in place for sixty days from when it takes effect, after which he and others will reevaluate the need to extend it.
Two of the reasons he has just given for the ban are:
“It’s wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced by new labour flown in from abroad.”
“Will conserve vital medical resources for Americans.”
Updated
A small wrap here on the meeting this afternoon between the president and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Oval Office, per Cuomo.
He said, in a quick call to MSNBC afterward, that he had a “functional and effective” conversation with Trump and tried to keep the focus on testing and state budget problems, Reuters reports.
“We have a tremendous job that we have to get done and put everything else aside and do the job, and the tone of the conversation was very functional and effective,” Cuomo said.
“I stayed focused on what we were there to talk about and for me the substantive agenda was testing - ‘Who does what? How do we get it up the scale?’ - and somebody has to stand up for funding for the states.”
Cuomo, a Democrat who has clashed with Trump during the coronavirus outbreak, did not discuss details of their talk, but described the meeting as “honest and open””
He said: “The president is communicative about his feelings and I’m communicative about what I think.”
With social distancing and lockdowns showing some positive results, Cuomo said on Monday he could begin to consider how to reopen a state that ranges from New York City, with more than 8 million people, to farm country and sparsely populated towns upstate.
The White House did not immediately provide an account of the meeting.
Cuomo said he sought a face-to-face conversation with the Republican president to hash out issues around the need for more testing capability.
“We have to get this ironed out. This is a very big issue,” Cuomo said.
He said testing volume needed to increase tenfold and leaders needed to discuss how the federal government can help and what the states can do to make enough tests available.
“That is the issue for the country right now I think,” Cuomo said. “It’s a benchmark - ‘Where are we? Are we on the increase, are we on the plateau or are we on the descent?’”
Updated
Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, thanked Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer for their work on the latest coronavirus relief bill. There is “unprecedented of money for testing” in the bill, he said
The new legislation allocates another $310bn (£250bn) for the payroll protection program for small businesses, and $50bn in disaster loans for small businesses.
The White House virus task force briefing is beginning in Washington. Follow the developments here.
Trump has said he will sign the legislation pending in Congress to bail out the small business loan program that’s been overrun by demand but small business isn’t holding its breath.
The last round ended up in the pockets of “small businesses” including Potbelly, the international sandwich chain, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and Shake Shack, which has given its $10m (£8.13m) back.
In the meantime, real small businesses – especially in hard-hit New York – are suffering. Nichelina Mavros, the co-owner of Depanneur, a grocery and deli in New York, said: “Ninety eight per cent of New York businesses are small businesses. In my network not one of them got the money.”
She wasn’t alone, you can read more here:
As the global effort to limit the pandemic’s impact gathers pace, watch how subtle changes in social behaviour or the level of contagiousness of the virus can affect the battle to stop its spread:
The UK government has missed opportunities to secure at least 16m face masks for NHS staff in the past four weeks, amid growing frustration from companies who say Britain is losing much-needed equipment to other countries.
As ministers faced relentless questions over a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in hospitals, suppliers said their offers to deliver UK-standard face masks were being met with silence from the government.
US Senate passes near-$500bn relief bill
The US Senate has unanimously passed legislation providing nearly $500bn (£406bn) in additional federal aid to help small businesses hurt by the pandemic and to aid hospitals dealing with large numbers of seriously ill patients.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives where it could be voted upon as soon as Thursday.
Updated
New York state’s governor Andrew Cuomo has said he had a functional and effective conversation with the nation’s president Donald Trump and tried to keep the focus on testing and state budget problems. In an interview with MSNBC afterwards, Cuomo said:
We have a tremendous job that we have to get done and put everything else aside and do the job, and the tone of the conversation was very functional and effective.
I stayed focused on what we were there to talk about and for me the substantive agenda was testing – who does what, how do we get it up the scale – and somebody has to stand up for funding for the states.
Iran and Russia should increase their cooperation in the fight against the pandemic and continue to trade with each other, the former’s president Hassan Rouhani has told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, according to the Iranian presidency website.
Iran is one of the Middle Eastern countries hardest hit by the outbreak and Russia has seen a recent surge in infections. According to the official Iranian record of the call, Rouhani told Putin:
Officials from the two countries must make efforts for trade exchanges to take place between them while observing health protocols.
Rouhani, trying to revive an economy reeling under tough US sanctions, also pointed to what he called provocative actions by the United States and Israel in the region, and said that Iran and Russia should increase their cooperation to address regional problems.
US suffers more than 2,500 more deaths
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 776,093 cases; an increase of 29,468 from its previous count. It has also said the number of deaths has risen by 2,675 to 41,758.
The CDC tallies are as of 20 April and compared with a day earlier. The figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
The US president Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigration to the United States will apply narrowly to those seeking permanent immigration status, a senior administration official has said.
According to Reuters, the official added that the order will have a timeframe of 30 to 90 days and will be renewable. Other workers such as those on so called H1-B visas will be covered in a separate action. The order could be ready in time for Trump to sign it as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.
Updated
Spain will allow children to go outside for walks from next weekend in a loosening of the country’s strict lockdown, its health minister Salvador Illa has said.
It comes amid mounting criticism that the government’s restrictions unfairly penalise the very young and a matter of hours after the announcement that young children would be allowed to accompany their parents on essential trips such as to buy food or medicine.
That sparked fierce criticism on social media and widespread calls to let children outside to play. Across Madrid, people banged on pots and pans from their balconies in protest. Illa said:
This is a government that listens and next weekend I will issue an order allowing children under 14 to take walks from Sunday, 26 April.
The Health Ministry will announce details on when and where children can walk in the coming days, he added.
Updated
A group of multinational companies is donating tens of thousands of testing kits and other items of medical equipment to Yemen, where a five-year war has destroyed the health system and left millions vulnerable to disease.
The country has reported only one laboratory-confirmed case so far. But the United Nations and aid groups have warned of a catastrophic outbreak should the disease spread among an acutely malnourished population.
The International Initiative on Covid-19 (IICY) said its first 34-tonne shipment will reach Yemen next week. It will contain 49,000 virus collection kits, 20,000 rapid test kits, five centrifuges and equipment that would enable 85,000 tests, and 24,000 Covid-19 nucleic acid test kits.
IICY was founded by the charity arm of multinational Yemeni family conglomerate Hayel Saeed Anam (HSA), Tetra Pak, Unilever, the World Bank-backed Yemen Private Sector Cluster, and the Federation of Yemen Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has told the country he is optimistic, despite the current “moment of great peril”, writes Jason Burke in Johannesburg.
In a national TV address, the former labour activist and businessman, announced a massive $26bn, £21bn social and economic relief package and spoke of a gradual reopening of the economy as a strict lockdown nears the final week.
The tough measures imposed on 27 March have caused immense hardship to many people in South Africa, with tens of millions deprived of their livelihoods and without sufficient food.
There has been growing tension in overcrowded poor neighbourhoods but the tough measures have effectively braked the spread of the disease and won plaudits internationally. There are currently 3,465 confirmed cases and 58 deaths in South Africa.
Updated
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s top civil servant says he “inadvertently and wrongly” informed MPs that ministers took a “political decision” not to take part in an EU scheme to get vital equipment.
Sir Simon McDonald has written to the Commons foreign affairs committee to say he wishes to “clarify” his earlier remark.
Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, I inadvertently and wrongly told the committee that ministers were briefed by UKMIS on the EU’s joint procurement agreement scheme and took a political decision not to participate in it.
This is incorrect. Ministers were not briefed by our mission in Brussels about the scheme and a political decision was not taken on whether or not to participate.
The government’s explanation has shifted repeatedly.
First, the prime minister’s official spokesman said the decision not to take part was taken because the UK is no longer a member of the EU, despite that not precluding participation during the transition period.
Then Downing Street said it had missed out because a “communication error” meant it missed the deadline, despite UK officials having been present for numerous discussions about the scheme, and that it would be taking part after all.
On Tuesday, McDonald told MPs not taking part had been a political decision, before the health secretary insisted later the same day that that was not the case. Within hours, McDonald’s latest statement has surfaced.
Updated
Downing Street has weighed in behind the UK’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, following a report that he is being lined up to take the rap for government failures over protective equipment testing.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said the prime minister has full confidence in Hancock and stands behind his pledge to get the UK to 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of the month, despite only 19,000 being carried out on Monday.
However, a blame game has started in Whitehall about some of the problems that have dogged the government’s reaction to the crisis, with Hancock’s handling of the logistics around testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) in the spotlight.
At the same time, some government sources have been pointing the finger at Public Health England for slowness to increase testing, and the NHS for failing to refer enough staff, which means completed tests are well below capacity of more than 39,000.
In English football, third and fourth-tier clubs have agreed to open their books to provide evidence of the financial ruin the pandemic may cause in order to find a breakthrough in the talks with the players’ union over wages.
Clubs have been asked by the Professional Footballers’ Association to supply confidential information to independent accountants to show the scale of pay cuts potentially required. The PFA has advised its members to take deferrals if clubs are struggling financially but this offers a route to more drastic measures.
Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, has asked the country’s chief judge to free prison inmates who have been awaiting trial for six years or more to ease overcrowding as the virus spreads, a spokesman has said.
A statement quoted Buhari as saying 42% of Nigeria’s 74,000 or so prisoners are awaiting trial. He urged Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad to reduce that number “since physical distancing and self-isolation in such conditions are practically impossible”.
Buhari said inmates with no confirmed criminal cases against them, elderly prisoners and those who were terminally ill could be discharged.
Most of these custodial centres are presently housing inmates beyond their capacities and the overcrowded facilities pose a potent threat to the health of the inmates and the public in general in view of the present circumstances, hence the need for urgent steps to bring the situation under control.
Updated
In Washington, an agreement has been reached on major elements of a near-$500bn (£406bn) aid package for small businesses, including additional help for hospitals and virus testing.
A Tuesday afternoon Senate session could provide an opportunity to quickly vote if the final deal comes together, the Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has said.
“We have a deal and I think we’ll pass it today,” Schumer told CNN. He cautioned staff were still “dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s”.
The president, Donald Trump, has urged congressional leaders to pass it quickly before beginning discussions on another deal. The House of Representatives is due to vote on it later in the week; most likely on Thursday.
The aid package is the second for small businesses. The first proved controversial, with big businesses including Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse receiving millions while many small businesses missed out. Shake Shack has now handed back the $10m loan it received. Ruth’s Chris – which had revenues of $468m last year – received $20m.
Updated
Tuesday 3 November is the date set by federal government for the 2020 US presidential elections. But, amid the pandemic, this has been called into question.
America has the world’s highest number of coronavirus-related deaths, with many states struggling to contain the outbreak; primary contests have been disrupted, conventions delayed and the two candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, have both been prevented from holding rallies.
Could Trump delay the vote, and if so what would that mean for 2021?
In the UK, public health experts are calling for an investigation into whether the decision to allow the Cheltenham racing festival to go ahead in early March led to a rise in cases locally, Dan Sabbagh, Steven Morris and Chris Cook write.
Mortality figures compiled by the Health Service Journal show that Gloucestershire hospitals NHS trust, which covers Cheltenham, has recorded 125 deaths, roughly double that in two nearby trusts at Bristol (58 each), and those covering Swindon (67) and Bath (46).
The trust declined to comment on the data, while senior officials at Gloucestershire council said there were “many factors” that could have influenced the death totals and comparisons between trusts in the west of England were “not possible”.
But Prof John Ashton, a former director of public health for Cumbria, said the figures deserve to be properly investigated.
We know the festival went ahead and a lot of people will have attended and worked there. It’s important we learn about what the potential is for coronavirus transmission at public events.
China’s ambassador to the United States has taken a thinly veiled swipe at Donald Trump by criticising politicians he claims are making “groundless accusations” that distract from scientific information on the pandemic.
Speaking at a webcast Bloomberg event, Cui Tiankai also defended the Chinese handling of the crisis amid criticism from Trump and others that the country had failed to alert the world in a timely and transparent fashion.
What worries me is indeed lack of transparency, not in terms of science, not in terms of medical treatment, but in terms of some of the political developments, especially here in the United States.
So little attention is paid to the views of the scientists as some politicians are so preoccupied in their efforts for stigmatisation, for groundless accusations.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.
Tensions are simmering between Washington and Beijing over the pandemic. Last month, the US state department summoned Cui to protest comments by Beijing suggesting the US military might have brought the virus to China, ratcheting up tensions between the global powers.
Meanwhile, Trump has said his government is trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, following reports the virus may have been artificially synthesised at a China state-backed laboratory or perhaps escaped from such a facility.
Updated
Summary
- At least 2.5 million people have now been infected with the coronavirus, researchers at Johns Hopkins University say, while more than 170,000 are known to have died worldwide.
- UK hospital deaths rose by 823, according to the Department for Health and Social Care, taking the total to 17,337. Official figures also show that Covid-19 fatalities in care homes in England and Wales more than quadrupled in a week; rising to 1,043.
- A team from the University of Oxford will begin trialling a vaccine on people from Thursday. The UK’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, says that the UK government has made £20m available to the team to accelerate their efforts, as well as making £22m available to researchers at Imperial to support their phase-two trials.
- Italy recorded its first significant fall in infections, with the number of people currently infected with the virus down by 528 to 107,709. They country reported 534 new deaths on Tuesday; 80 more than Monday, bringing the death toll to 24,648.
- The UK’s choice to stay out of a EU ventilator scheme was “political decision” said Sir Simon McDonald, the Foreign Office permanent under-secretary, challenging previous claims that the UK did not take part due to missed emails.
- The UK government’s PPE claims came under scrutiny from the leader of the opposition Labour party, Sir Keir Starmer, who claimed there is an “increasing gap” between government claims on PPE and reality.
- Mexico’s government said the country had entered the “most serious stage” of its outbreak. The country’s deputy health minister, Hugo López-Gatell, said: “We are in the phase of rapid spread where a large number of infections and hospitalisations are accumulated.”
- The Pamplona bull run was cancelled. The annual event, where hundreds of daredevils play a risky and controversial game of catch-me-if-you-can with half-tonne fighting bulls, was supposed to take place in Spain in July.
Updated
Italy considers regularising illegal migrant workers
The Italian government is considering regularising illegal migrants working in the agricultural sector, as fruit and vegetable crops in the country risk rotting in the fields due to the lockdown, reports Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo.
On Tuesday, the interior minister, Luciana Lamorgese, said the government is thinking of a plan for the regularisation of migrants in response to the request for work in the fields.
“We are thinking about how to regularise immigrants working in agriculture to solve the problem of harvesting the fields,’’ said Lamorgese, who also mentioned the need to regularise foreign workers working as caregivers.
Some 90% of Italy’s agricultural workers are seasonal, the majority being from Romania.
According to the unions, if no action is taken more than 35% of crops risk rotting in the fields.
Updated
Donald Trump has been accused of “xenophobic scapegoating” after announcing he will order a temporary ban on immigration into the US to combat the coronavirus pandemic, writes David Smith, the Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief.
There were no other details on the timing, scope or legal basis of the president’s proposed executive order and no official policy statement from the White House.
Instead there was a lone tweet issued by Trump at 10.06pm on Monday. Without warning, he wrote:
In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2020
The post generated instant uncertainty. Similar moves by Trump in the past have triggered mayhem at airports in America and beyond, as well as legal challenges. Such an order would be a far-reaching use of executive power from a president who last week claimed he had “total” authority over states’ efforts to reopen their economies.
Democrats suggested the president was seeking to distract from his own mishandling of the pandemic. Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia tweeted:
From the beginning Trump has flailed about seeking someone to blame for his own failure.
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) April 21, 2020
Obama. Governors. China. Speaker Pelosi. People of Asian descent.
Immigration has nearly stopped and the US has far more cases than any other country.
This is just xenophobic scapegoating. https://t.co/hurkmuvlvg
Congressman Joaquín Castro of Texas, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, added:
This action is not only an attempt to divert attention away from Trump’s failure to stop the spread of the coronavirus and save lives, but an authoritarian-like move to take advantage of a crisis and advance his anti-immigrant agenda. We must come together to reject his division.
Moe Vela, a former senior adviser on Latino affairs to the then vice-president Joe Biden, said:
He wants to distract again. He castigates and casts blame as he tries to take it away from himself. He shirked his most fundamental responsibility as the president of this nation and that’s to keep us safe. He doesn’t know how to cover up for the fact he was playing golf and holding rallies in February when people were getting sick and dying.
Updated
Ireland has reported 44 more deaths from coronavirus, bringing the country’s total death toll to 731.
The announcement comes after the country’s government earlier said public events of more than 5,000 people would remain banned until at least the end of August.
Statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team
— Department of Health (@roinnslainte) April 21, 2020
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that 44 people diagnosed with #COVID19 in Ireland have died.
The government said it would decide what to do about smaller gatherings closer to 5 May when restrictions put in place on 24 March are due to expire, Reuters reported.
Other restrictions require people to stay home other than for short periods to exercise, and all schools, bars, restaurants and non-essential shops are closed.
Ireland, which has a population of 4.9 million, has reported 16,041 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The country’s chief medical officer last week said the country had contained and effectively suppressed the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak.
UPDATE: The total number of confirmed #COVID19 cases in South Africa is 3 465. The total number of tests conducted to date is 126 937, of which 5427 were done in the last 24 hours. #Staysafe, use a cloth mask when out and reduce the spread of #COVIDinSA pic.twitter.com/w1bXAhalQP
— NICD (@nicd_sa) April 21, 2020
If you’ve been following the blog all day, much of this won’t be news to you, but the Guardian’s international reporters have now written their wrap for the day, focusing on easing of lockdowns across Europe. They write:
Several European countries are to relax coronavirus restrictions related to children, with Holland and France announcing that primary schools will reopen next month and Spain setting out how under-14s will be allowed out of the home from next week.
French children would return to school in staggered year groups, the education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, said, with no more than 15 pupils allowed in each class.
Primary pupils aged from five to 11 would be the first to go back on 12 May, one day after the end of a strict nationwide lockdown. The following week older children in selected years at secondary schools and lycée would return. All classes would be back by 25 May.
Blanquer said the aim was to have primary school children back in “small groups”, probably of “less than 10 pupils”. The plan is likely to prove challenging for headteachers in public schools, where classes of 30-plus pupils are common.
Updated
Ryanair has told passengers they will have to wait until “the Covid-19 emergency has passed” if they want a refund for a cancelled flight, writes Miles Brignall, Guardian money reporter.
Last month Europe’s biggest budget airline was offering passengers on cancelled flights the option of a refund within 20 working days, via its website.
The airline has been forced to ground most of its fleet due to the pandemic, although it is still running a few flights in and out of the UK, mostly out of Dublin and Stansted.
Passengers were initially delighted, but a Ryanair email sent out on Monday, seen by the Guardian, has heralded an about-turn.
Instead of the refund, passengers have been sent a link telling them how told how to use its vouchers to purchase Ryanair flights and other services over the next 12 months.
Passengers can still request a cash refund, it states, but the request will be placed “in the cash refund queue until the Covid-19 emergency has passed”.
“We highly recommend using the refund voucher as these are readily available and you can book flights on all Ryanair Group airlines in over 200 destinations,” says the airline.
Passengers who have tried to insist on the refund have told the Guardian that they have been left “waiting for hours to talk to a chatbot”, and it is impossible to get it processed.
Ryanair said: “For any cancelled flight, Ryanair is giving customers all of the options set out under EU regulations, including refunds.”
EU rules require the airlines to refund passengers on flights they cancel within seven days, but the airline industry across the board has ignored this over the last month, citing extraordinary circumstances.
EasyJet has since reintroduced the option of a cash refund online, while BA requires passengers to call the airline, which is near impossible at the moment.
The airlines can only offer credit vouchers with the consent of the passenger but this has not stopped the airlines and travel companies telling passengers, making this the only practical option.
Updated
France has become the first country to call publicly for Apple and Google to weaken privacy protections around digital contact tracing, after its government admitted that its current plans would not work without changes to smartphone operating systems, Alex Hern, the Guardian’s tech editor, reports.
The criticism comes two weeks after a landmark collaboration between the two companies to build technology enabling digital contact tracing apps, which would track contacts between users in an attempt to help slow the spread of Covid-19.
The collaboration enables phones from both companies to work together, but also sets strict limits on what data can be sent back to public health authorities. It is those limits that France wants lifted, France’s digital minister, Cédric O, said in an interview with Bloomberg News.
“We’re asking Apple to lift the technical hurdle to allow us to develop a sovereign European health solution that will be tied our health system,” O said.
Contact tracing apps that do not conform to the new privacy requirements can still be built, but they face strict limits, particularly on Apple phones. They don’t work when “backgrounded”, as when another app or game is in use on the phone, nor when the screen is locked entirely.
Italy records first significant fall in infections
Italy reported 534 new deaths from coronavirus on Tuesday, 80 more than on Monday, bringing the death toll to 24,648, Angela Giuffrida reports.
However, the number of people currently infected with the virus fell by 528 to 107,709 - the first significant fall since the outbreak began.
Italy’s total cases to date, including victims and survivors, rose by 2,727 to 183,957.
Italy has been under lockdown since 9 March, with only some businesses, such as bookshops, and factories reopening over the past week. The quarantine is due to end on 3 May, after which restrictions will be eased. Prime minister Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday a plan would be announced by the end of this week.
“A reasonable forecast is that we will apply it from May 4,” he said.
An online sale of face masks made by Japanese consumer electronics company Sharp saw such overwhelming demand that it crashed not only the site, but also the company’s range of smart home gadgets across Japan, writes Guardian technology editor Alex Hern.
In common with many manufacturers worldwide, Sharp has pledged to use excess capacity in its factories to manufacture PPE, some of which is being sold direct to the public. At ¥2,980 (£22) for a box of 50, the face masks are good value, and Japan is experiencing a shortage nationwide, despite a long history of public mask wearing.
But when the masks went on sale, the initial stock of 3,000 sold out rapidly, according to Asahi Shinbun, and then the special site created for the sale collapsed, which also brought down the server controlling Sharp’s smart home appliances, including smartphone-powered air conditioners.
According to Sharp, the same server was used to manage logging in to both sites, meaning that over-usage of one crashed both.
“The masks received a great response, and we apologise for the inconvenience. We are investigating the details of the cause,” a Sharp spokeswoman said.
Almost one in six Japanese households have some sort of smart device, according to Statista, with comfort and lighting devices like those sold by Sharp the second most-popular category. The country’s humid and hot summers make a remotely controlled air-conditioner a smart purchase for many – at least, until the server breaks entirely.
Updated
Greek authorities have placed the town of Kranidi in the Peloponnese under curfew after a mass outbreak of coronavirus cases was detected among refugees being hosted in a holding facility in the area, Helena Smith reports from Athens.
The lockdown was announced by Nikos Hardalias, the civil defence minister handling the government’s response to the pandemic, who rushed to the region after it was revealed that 150 detainees and two employees at the site had tested positive for the virus.
Local residents will be forced to remain indoors between 8pm and 8am for the next 14 days with health officials imploring the older generation not to leave their homes at all.
The outbreak has alarmed authorities who ordered the facility - home to asylum seekers from Somalia and Sudan - be put in quarantine last Thursday.
The curfew came as Greece’s centre right government signalled the country would begin relaxing restrictive measures next week when land registry offices and courts of first instance reopen to the public, albeit partially, on April 27.
Meanwhile, media outlets reported that Greece’s death toll as a result of Covid-19 had risen to 120 after a 35-year-old man, with no underlying illnesses, and a 101-year-old woman, also succumbed to the disease. To date cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in three refugee reception centres, including Kranidi.
Greek authorities have said they will begin transferring elderly and vulnerable refugees from overcrowded Aegean island camps to the mainland amid mounting concerns of the potentially lethal virus hitting facilities hosting in excess of 35,000 people on islands facing the Turkish coast.
The nation, which marked Orthodox Easter over the weekend under strict lockdown, has fared better than most other EU states after the government announced tough preventative measures early on.
The İstanbul Chamber of Physicians says that at least 2,000 healthcare workers in the city have been infected and nine have died, numbers far in excess of Turkey’s official figures, reports Bethan McKernan, the Guardian’s Middle East and Turkey correspondent.
The government’s official figures, last updated on 2 April, put the number of sick healthcare workers at 601.
Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city with a population of 17 million, has around 60% of the country’s total cases. Hospitals are generally more organised than in the chaotic few weeks of the pandemic but “serious problems continue,” a statement from the the union said on Monday.
The union says that at least 2,000 healthcare workers have been infected and nine have died in Istanbul alone. .
Reported fatalities across Turkey also remain much lower than other badly hit countries, at 2,140. However, analysis by the New York Times of death records in Istanbul shows that the city has seen a jump of 2,100 more deaths than expected in a recent four-week period, suggesting the coronavirus outbreak may be much worse than officials say.
Turkey is also not following WHO guidelines for recording data related to the pandemic, only counting cases that have been confirmed with a positive test result and excluding cases that have been clinically diagnosed as Covid-19 with no test administered.
The days of cheap air travel will be over if airlines are forced to introduce physical distancing measures on planes because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the industry has warned, reports Julia Kollewe.
Alexandre de Juniac, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (Iata), said that if governments ordered airlines to adopt physical distancing onboard aircraft, at least a third of seats would remain empty and airlines would have to raise their ticket prices by at least 50% or go bust.
Either you fly at the same price, selling the ticket at the same average price as before, and you lose enormous amounts of money so it’s impossible to fly for any airline, particularly low cost; or you increase ticket prices by at least 50% and you are able to fly with a minimum profit. So it means that if social distancing is imposed, cheap travel is over.
Singapore has reported 1,111 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, the second day in a row that it has reported more than a thousand new cases.
Although the latest rise is several hundred short of Monday’s - which at 1,426 was the biggest yet for the south east Asian city state - it will compound fears that the country’s strict controls to curb the spread of the virus are increasingly ineffective.
Nearly all - 1,050 - of the cases were among the dormitory-housed migrant workers that Singapore relies on to provide the city’s essential basic services, the ministry of health said in its daily statistical release, adding that the large increase in cases was only now being picked up because of extensive testing.
Most of these cases have a mild illness and are being monitored in the community isolation facilities or general ward of our hospitals. None of them is in the intensive care unit.
In total, Singapore has recorded 9,125 cases of coronavirus, and 11 deaths.
As of 21 Apr, 12pm, we have confirmed & verified an additional 1,111 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. Breakdown: 0 imported, 28 cases in the community, 33 Work Permit holders residing outside dorms & 1,050 Work Permit holders residing in dorms. - https://t.co/ekyqfCkEMp
— Ministry of Health (@sporeMOH) April 21, 2020
Of the new cases, 66% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing. Read more: https://t.co/ekyqfCkEMp
— Ministry of Health (@sporeMOH) April 21, 2020
As of 21 Apr 2020, 12pm, 39 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 839 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged. Read more: https://t.co/ekyqfCkEMp
— Ministry of Health (@sporeMOH) April 21, 2020
Of the 3,593 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving. 27 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. Read more: https://t.co/ekyqfCkEMp
— Ministry of Health (@sporeMOH) April 21, 2020
Global confirmed cases of Covid-19 pass 2.5m
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world has now passed 2.5m, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The US remains top of the national rankings kept by the Maryland, US-based research university, with 788,920 cases, followed by Spain with 204,178, then Italy with 181,228, followed by France, Germany and the UK.
However, with testing regimes differing widely between countries, it is difficult to say with certainty whether the league table is accurate.
UK hospital coronavirus deaths rise by 823
The Department for Health and Social Care has published the latest UK hospital death figures. There are 823 new deaths, taking the total to 17,337.
As of 9am 21 April, 535,342 tests have concluded, with 18,206 tests on 20 April.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 21, 2020
397,670 people have been tested of which 129,044 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 20 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 17,337 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/rLnm7MWxEw
Follow our UK liveblog for the latest.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced 481 New Yorkers died of coronavirus yesterday, as the daily death toll remained flat from Sunday.
“We have paid a tremendous price to control this beast,” Cuomo said of New York’s death toll, which is higher than that of any other US state.
In some promising news, the number of new coronavirus hospitalizations yesterday fell to 1,300, although the overall number of hospitalizations remained unchanged.
The number of intubations has also been on a consistent decline in recent days.
Follow the latest updates from the US, including all the details from Cuomo’s daily briefing, on our US coronavirus live blog.
Bangladesh has reported 434 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, and nine more deaths, as the lockdown in the country risks throwing tens of thousands of workers into poverty.
On Tuesday, the country’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research said the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus so far had risen to 3,382, of whom 110 had died.
The numbers of confirmed cases reported in recent days suggests that the south Asian country of 161m people is at the beginning of its outbreak curve.
On Tuesday, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the Reuters news agency, reported that the government could sue owners of garment factories who fail to pay their staff during the lockdown
Last week, thousands of factory workers protested on the streets of Dhaka and other cities after their workplaces - hit by a downturn in the garment sector - closed without paying their March wages.
The government has said at least 350 factory owners have not yet paid, with more than 150,000 workers affected, though labour leaders say the true figure is much higher, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Labour ministry official Shibnath Roy told the agency that businesses that did not pay staff would not receive any money from a $588 million rescue package that Bangladesh announced last month for its crucial export sector.
“We have taken these steps to create pressure on factory owners. If they still don’t pay, we will file cases against them in the labour court,” he said.
How Brazil’s favelas are staging their own Covid-19 fightback
Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has described coronavirus as a “little flu” and resisted lockdown measures even as the death toll rises. But in Rio’s poorest favelas, where people live in overcrowded conditions and lack proper sanitation, they are bracing for the worst.
Buba Aguiar is an activist in Acari who is taking matters into her own hands, soliciting online donations to buy food parcels and basic coronavirus kit - soap, masks - for her neighbours who cannot afford to stop working and stay at home.
As Acari records its first coronavirus death, the Guardian followed Buba through a typical day fighting to help her community in the face of government inaction.
Covid-19 has created an unexpected outburst of cross-community co-operation across the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland, reports Henry McDonald in Belfast.
The Protestant Orange Order has announced it has bought a substantial quantity of PPE which it will distribute to health staff on both sides of the Irish border.
The Grand Lodge of Ireland - the Order’s ruling body on the island - has said it has purchased tens of thousands of masks, protective gowns and hand sanitiser.
Orange lodges in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic have been tasked to distribute the PPE.
Edward Stevenson, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, said everyone owned “a huge debt of gratitude to all key workers who are working so hard to tackle this dreadful disease.”
The Orange Order has already taken the unusual step of cancelling all its parades and marches including the annual commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July in response to the pandemic.
Orangemen however are still making use of the drums they use in the marching season. Some are taking them out to batter during the mass applause and public displays of support for NHS and other key workers every Thursday since the lockdown began.
The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Africa has passed 23,000, the Africa Centres for Disease Control reported earlier today.
#COVID2019 update (9 am EAT 21 April 2020). 52 @_AfricanUnion Member States reporting 23505 cases, 1158 deaths, and 5833 recoveries pic.twitter.com/JvNIWve2OG
— Africa CDC (@AfricaCDC) April 21, 2020
The coronavirus outbreak in Turkey is starting to reach a plateau and the country aims to return to normal life after Ramadan, which ends in late May, president Tayyip Erdoğan was quoted as saying by state-owned Anadolu news agency on Tuesday.
“We aim to achieve maximum observance of measures during the month of Ramadan and, God willing, a transition to normal life for our country after the holiday,” Erdoğan said, according to Reuters.
The announcement comes as Turkey’s Covid-19 outbreak hit 90,981 cases, overtaking China to become the seventh most affected country in the world (as reported earlier by my colleague, Bethan McKernan, in Istanbul).
Reported fatalities remain much lower than other badly hit countries, at 2,140. However, analysis by the New York Times of death records in Istanbul shows the city has seen a jump of 2,100 more deaths than expected in a recent four-week period, suggesting the coronavirus outbreak may be much worse than official tallies.
Updated
Austria will allow restaurants and cafes to reopen and religious services to resume from 15 May, Sebastian Kurz, the chancellor, said on Tuesday.
“We are going faster here than other countries towards something like a new normality,” Kurz told a news conference, according to Reuters. He said that “gastronomy businesses”, a term that often includes bars, will be allowed to reopen from 15 May and stay open until 11pm.
Religious services can resume from the same day.
Austria acted early, closing restaurants, bars, theatres, non-essential shops and other potential gathering places more than a month ago. People were told to stay at home and work from there if possible.
Now it is among among the first to loosen its lockdown, allowing DIY stores, garden centres and shops of less than 400 sq metres – roughly twice the area of a singles tennis court – to reopen a week ago.
Shopping centres, larger shops and hairdressers are due to follow from 1 May.
Updated
Saudi Arabia plans to change curfew hours it imposed on several cities during the month of Ramadan to allow people more time to shop for essentials, state news agency (SPA) reported on Tuesday.
Currently, people living in areas under 24 hours curfew can go out for healthcare and to supermarkets from 6am to 3pm. During Ramadan these hours will start from 9am until 5 pm, SPA said.
The announcement comes as the Saudi ministry of health reported 1,147 new confirmed cases of coronavirus – the biggest increase yet in the kingdom – and six more deaths. It is the fourth day in a row that the country has reported more than 1,000 new infections.
#الصحة تعلن عن تسجيل (1147) حالة إصابة جديدة بفيروس #كورونا الجديد (كوفيد19)، وتسجيل (6) حالات وفيات رحمهم الله، وتسجيل (150) حالة تعافي ليصبح مجموع الحالات المتعافية (1640) حالة ولله الحمد. pic.twitter.com/2ofzJv4LLq
— و ز ا ر ة ا لـ صـ حـ ة السعودية (@SaudiMOH) April 21, 2020
Updated
Sweden has reported its highest daily death toll since the start of its coronavirus outbreak, with 185 added to its total since yesterday.
The total number of Covid-19 deaths in the worst-affected Nordic country is 1,765, with 15,322 total confirmed cases to date – up 545 on the day before.
(It is worth making clear, as a reader has been in touch to point out, that not all - indeed may only half - of the deaths reported by Sweden on Tuesday occurred in the past 24 hours. This interactive graphic makes clear the delays in reporting from Swedish health authorities.)
Updated
Mexico has entered its most serious stage in the spread of the coronavirus, the country’s deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday.
During a daily morning news conference held by president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Lopez-Gatell said the country had entered “phase three” of its outbreak, with the spread of the virus intensifying, Reuters reported.
Today we want to announce the start of ‘Phase 3’ of the Covid epidemic, remembering that we are in the phase of rapid spread where a large number of infections and hospitalisations are accumulated.
He said it was vital Mexicans followed government instructions to help the country’s health system, adding that public meetings would not be able to held during this phase and it was vital for people to maintain social distancing.
Mexico has already extended measures to contain the coronavirus until 30 May.
Mexico has so far registered 712 coronavirus deaths and 8,772 infections, with 511 new cases reported on Monday.
Updated
WhatsApp and the World Health Organization have collaborated to launched a series of chat stickers to help people communicate about aspects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Facebook-owned messaging service has worked with the World Health Organization to produce the stickers, which can be posted into chats.
WhatsApp said the “together at home” pack – which includes colourful reminders to wash hands, maintain social distancing and check in on loved ones – was to help users more accurately communicate the thoughts and feelings of lockdown.
We worked together with @WHO on a new 'Together at Home' sticker pack to help people stay connected throughout this moment and beyond. Send an air high five, celebrate our medical heroes, or show love to a personal hero in your life. Available now in your WhatsApp. pic.twitter.com/6xjKylYzRd
— WhatsApp Inc. (@WhatsApp) April 21, 2020
The social-messaging service said in a blogpost:
We’re excited to work with the World Health Organization to launch the ‘Together at Home’ sticker pack that will help people stay connected throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.
Stickers like these can be funny, educational and universal, breaking through language, age, and other barriers. We hope people enjoy using these stickers to check in on loved ones, particularly those that are feeling isolated, alone, and scared.
This pack offers creative ways to remind people to wash their hands, maintain distance, exercise, and importantly to celebrate medical heroes as well as the personal heroes in all of our lives.
Updated
Russia recorded 5,642 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its nationwide tally to 52,763, the Russian coronavirus crisis response centre said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Fifty-one people with the virus died in the last 24 hours, a one-day record for the country, pushing the death toll to 456, it said.
The number of coronavirus cases in Russia began rising sharply this month, although it had reported far fewer infections than many western European countries in the outbreak’s early stages. Today’s increase is the second highest reported yet, after Sunday when authorities reported a rise of 6,060.
As the Netherlands announces plans to emerge from lockdown, its public health institute reported 729 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, its lowest number of daily new cases since 23 March.
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) said there had been 165 more deaths, taking the country’s total to 3,916.
Overall, 34,134 people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the coronavirus, of whom 9,897 were admitted to hospital.
Earlier, Daniel Boffey, the Guardian’s Brussels bureau chief, reported that the Dutch government was set to announce the reopening of some schools at the beginning of May.
The easing of the country’s lockdown comes after advice from the official scientific advisors, obtained by the Guardian, said the effective reproduction rate of the epidemic has been less than 1 in the Netherlands since 15 March. This means that one person with the disease infects fewer than one other person in the community.
Iran has reported 88 more deaths from coronavirus in the past 24 hours, down from 91 the previous day.
In a press conference broadcast on state TV, Kianoosh Jahanpoor, the health ministry’s spokesman, also said that testing had confirmed 1,297 new confirmed coronavirus cases, taking the total in Iran since the outbreak began to 84,802, Tasnim news agency reports.
The total death toll from Covid-19 in the country, the worst-affected in the Middle East, now stands at 5,297, Jahanpour said. So far 60,965 patients have recovered, but 3,357 remain in hospital in a critical condition.
The Pamplona bull run, where hundreds of daredevils play a risky game of catch-me-if-you-can with half-tonne fighting bulls, is the latest world-famous cultural event to be cancelled as a result of coronavirus, AFP reports.
Pamplona’s municipal council decided to call off the event, Spain’s best-known bull running festival, held each year between 6-14 July, because “the fight against Covid-19 has become a global priority and there is no other possible option for such massive festivities,” a statement said.
Sixteen people have been killed in the bull runs since officials began keeping track in 1910. The last death was in 2009 when a 27-year-old Spaniard was gored in the neck, heart and lungs.
The coronavirus has killed almost 21,300 people so far in Spain, the third-highest official toll after the US and Italy.
Updated
Daniel Boffey, our Brussels bureau chief, has sent in the latest on plans in the Netherlands to ease the lockdown there.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, is expected to announce that primary schools, child care settings and schools specialising in teaching children with special education needs will reopen in the first week of May. Rutte is due to hold a press conference at 7pm CET this evening.
According to advice provided by scientists from the country’s centre for infectious disease control, the risk from an increase in infection from the reopening of some schools is deemed “manageable”.
As of Monday, 33,405 patients in the Netherlands had tested positive with Covid-19, of which 9,779 persons were hospitalised and 3,751 died.
The leaked scientific advice, obtained by the Guardian, says the effective reproduction rate of the epidemic has been less than 1 in the Netherlands since 15 March. This means that one person with the disease infects fewer than one other person in the community.
Of all reported Covid-19 patients, the scientists advise that “barely 1% are under 20 years of age, while this age group accounts for approximately 22% of the entire population”.
The scientists advise: “By opening childcare, primary schools and special education, more transmission is expected among children and their parents. However, it is expected that this will not result in much additional care and hospital admissions.”
The scientific advisers are not as one on whether primary schools should open completely or whether they should start with half-full classes. They suggest that the government takes into account the data over the next few weeks from Scandinavian countries where schools have already reopened.
Secondary schools in the Netherlands could reopen a month later “if no outbreaks have occurred in [primary] schools in the intervening period”.
They further advise that children up to 12 years of age should be allowed to recommence sports outside and without a requirement to keep 1.5-metre distance from each other. Older children will be required to maintain the social distancing rule.
Top class athletes may train outside but running clubs should not resume as they advise that clouds of sweat can be detected 20m behind a running athlete.
“On theoretical grounds, a risk would then arise for those in the slipstream, just behind the athlete,” the scientists report.
Updated
This is Damien Gayle taking over the live blog now, keeping you up to date with the latest coronavirus news from around the world.
If you want to get in touch with tips, suggestions or news from your part of the world, please send me an email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or you can reach me via direct message to my Twitter profile, @damiengayle.
The coronavirus pandemic may be prompting some anti-vaxxers to question their views, experts say, but others are doubling down – and vaccine hesitancy, amplified by some celebrities, could seriously undermine a future inoculation programme.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 70 candidate coronavirus vaccines are being developed, with three already in clinical evaluation. The world’s small but vocal anti-vaccination community seems divided on how to respond.
“The extremists, the belief-driven groups who reject vaccination on principle, whose aim is to disrupt and polarise, they’re not changing, in fact they’re capitalising,” said Heidi Larson, director of the London-based Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP).
You can read the full story here –
Projected deaths from coronavirus in Northern Ireland have been cut dramatically to 1,500, reports Henry McDonald in Belfast.
Earlier this month, medical chiefs in the region said the expected death toll would be more than 3,000. The health minister in the power sharing regional government, Robin Swann, said the latest, lower figure for deaths was due to new modelling on Covid-19 numbers.
While welcoming the lower projected death toll, Swann said there was “no room for complacency” and that the lockdown measures across Northern Ireland needed to continue.
Appealing to the public to maintain social distancing, he added:
Thinking this is over or that the risk is diminishing will risk lives. So, don’t be that person. Don’t take that chance.
Updated
Greek officials have signalled that they are preparing for the country’s lockdown to be reversed. The government’s spokesman, Stelios Petsas, has announced that as of 27 April the justice system will gradually return to normality with land registry offices and some courts opening “for specific procedures”.
This will mark the first relaxation of restrictive measures since schools were closed in the western Peloponnese – which saw the country’s first outbreak of the coronavirus – on 4 March.
Sectors of the population less at risk will then follow, said Petsas, explaining that while small shops may open thereafter the government’s priority would continue to be the protection of the most vulnerable.
Greek health authorities said on Monday that 116 people had died from the disease in the country while 2,245 cases had been confirmed. Some 54,345 tests had been conducted nationwide.
As in other parts of Europe, the transition is expected to be as tentative as it is gradual. “We are not there yet,” Petsas insisted, noting that the detection of further infections in a refugee camp in Kranidi in the Peloponnese was particularly worrying.
Nikos Hardalias, the minister for civil defence handling the government’s response to the pandemic, has rushed to the holding facility where more than 150 Somali refugees are believed to have tested positive for the virus.
Updated
Turkey’s Covid-19 outbreak has hit 90,981 cases, overtaking China to become the seventh most affected country in the world.
While Ankara took early steps to limit international travel and closed schools and restaurants shortly after its first case was confirmed on 11 March, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has resisted calls for a total lockdown, insisting that the wheels of the economy “must keep turning”.
Turkey is still recovering from a 2018 currency crash. Further economic turmoil is likely to further dent the already waning popularity of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP).
Reported fatalities remain much lower than other badly hit countries, at 2,140. However, analysis by the New York Times of death records in Istanbul shows that the city has seen a jump of 2,100 more deaths than expected in a recent four-week period, suggesting the coronavirus outbreak may be much worse than official tallies.
Fearful that people will try to take advantage of the sunny spring weather, Turkey has implemented a 48-hour weekend curfew until further notice. The start of Ramadan on Thursday will be marked by a new four-day lockdown during which families will not be able to travel to eat and celebrate together without risking fines or arrest.
Turkish Airlines, the national flag carrier, has also announced a massive operation of 195 flights over the next nine days to bring back 25,000 Turkish citizens stranded abroad in time for the beginning of the holy month. Both international and domestic airports are otherwise closed.
Ruby Princess crew members clapped and cheered from their balconies as the first of their workmates finally began to disembark the troubled cruise ship in New South Wales to fly home.
At least 49 crew members from six countries disembarked from the ship, which has been docked at Port Kembla for more than two weeks following a Covid-19 outbreak. Police in New South Wales said more crew members will disembark in coming days, but hundreds will remain on board and return with the ship to its port of origin.
The Ruby Princess initially docked in Sydney in March, when the ship’s passengers and some crew disembarked. It has since been linked to at least 21 deaths and hundreds of coronavirus cases across Australia.
Summary
- Global deaths pass 170,000. More than 170,000 people have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. There have been more than 2.47 million cases worldwide. Just under a quarter of global deaths – 42,000 – have been in the US. The UK has nearly 126,000 cases and more than 16,500 deaths.
- Trump announces plan to suspend immigration to US. US president Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he will “temporarily suspend” immigration to the US, referring to the “invisible enemy”, a term he has used in the White House press briefings and on Twitter to refer to coronavirus.
- World Health Organization says evidence that coronavirus came from bats. The WHO said all available evidence suggested the coronavirus originated in bats in China late last year and was not manipulated or constructed in a laboratory. Trump said last week the US was trying to determine whether the virus emanated from a lab in Wuhan in central China.
- Italy to announce plan to ease lockdown this week as confirmed cases fall by 20. The country’s prime minister said the government would unveil plans for the gradual reopening from lockdown before the end of this week. Italy reported 454 new deaths from coronavirus on Monday, 21 more than on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 24,114. For the first time, the number of people who are infected fell by 20 to 108,237.
- Singapore extends lockdown after second-wave rise in cases. Singapore, which has been lauded for its initial response to the outbreak, has seen a surge in cases, reporting a record 1,426 new coronavirus cases on Monday, mostly among foreign workers. The city state’s prime minister announced a lockdown would be extended by four weeks until 1 June.
- Denmark ban on gatherings of more than 500 in place until September. The country’s government has announced it will not allow gatherings of more than 500 people until at least 1 September, and that the current ban on gatherings of more than 10 people will stay in place until 10 May. Denmark was one of the first European countries to introduce lockdown restrictions on 12 March, before it had recorded any deaths. Three hundred and 64 people are reported to have died in the country.
-
Oktoberfest cancelled. Bavaria’s leaders have cancelled Oktoberfest, the world’s biggest beer festival, due to fears that it could become a breeding ground for the coronavirus. The 210-year-old festival, which attracts 6 million visitors and brings in around €1bn a year, is a major event in the German calendar.
- Oil price falls to historic low due to coronavirus. The US oil market collapsed into negative prices for the first time as North America’s oil producers run out of space to store an unprecedented oversupply of crude left by the pandemic. However, Trump has downplayed the oil price drop, saying it’s only “short term”.
Updated
There was further unrest in the Paris suburbs, or “banlieues”, on Monday evening, with fireworks fired at police and rubbish bins and cars set alight. Similar incidents were reported in areas of Strasbourg in eastern France.
This appears to be a spread of unrest following an incident in Villeneuve-la Garenne on Saturday evening in which a trail motorbike, ridden at speed by a man not wearing a helmet, hit the door of a police car stopped at a red traffic light.
An investigation is ongoing into the incident, which is the subject of conflicting claims: locals say officers opened the door of the unmarked police vehicle deliberately with the intention of injuring the rider, who was thrown from the bike and suffered a fractured femur. The man’s family has announced it will sue the police, who deny the accusation its officers acted deliberately.
Seven people were arrested after the unrest on Sunday, which appears to have been sparked by rumours the injured man was so badly hurt he had his leg amputated; four were still in custody on Tuesday morning.
It has been reported in some UK media that the violence broke out because of French president Emmanuel Macron’s decision to extend the country’s strict lockdown until 11 May, but this seems unlikely as the extension was announced several days before the unrest began. However, tensions in the banlieues are especially high because of allegations of heavy-handed policing of the lockdown in the densely populated housing estates, which are home to many migrant and minority communities.
In Strasbourg, rubbish bins and a car were torched and Molotov cocktails were thrown at a police station. The local authorities said images posted on social media looked dramatic, but there was limited damage to the buildings.
Updated
Here’s more on the decision to cancel this year’s Oktoberfest in Bavaria, from the Guardian’s correspondent in Germany, Kate Connolly.
Bavaria’s leaders have cancelled Oktoberfest, the world’s biggest beer festival, due to fears that it could become a breeding ground for the coronavirus.
The 210-year-old festival, which attracts around six million visitors a year, is a major event in the German calendar.
Markus Söder, the premier of Bavaria, which has been one of the regions worst hit by the pandemic in Europe, said the Oktoberfest posed too big a public health risk. He had hinted over several weeks that it was “on the rocks” and was unlikely to take place.
Söder said:
Living with coronavirus means living carefully. As long as there is no vaccination, we need to be very sensible. We are in mutual agreement that the risk is quite simply too high … compromises will not help.
WHO: All evidence suggests coronavirus originated in bats
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that all available evidence suggests that the coronavirus originated in bats in China late last year and it was not manipulated or constructed in a laboratory.
US president Donald Trump said last week his government was trying to determine whether the virus emanated from a lab in Wuhan in central China.
WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a Geneva news briefing:
All available evidence suggests the virus has an animal origin and is not manipulated or constructed virus in a lab or somewhere else. It is probable, likely, that the virus is of animal origin.
She added that it was not clear how the virus had jumped the species barrier to humans but there had “certainly” been an intermediate animal host.
Updated
In its first coronavirus briefing this week, Germany’s leading public health body, the Robert Koch Institute, said there was evidence Covid-19 could damage the heart, kidneys and cause blood clotting. Prof Lars Schaade, the RKI’s vice-president, said: “We must systematically examine all the evidence, including through autopsies.”
He said the decision to relax restrictions across Germany, which has seen some small shops opening, and pupils returning to school to sit exams this week, were “sensible” from a societal point of view. But from a purely epidemiological viewpoint restrictions should remain in place.
The main aim remained ensuring the number of cases remained in a “safe zone”, he said. Germany’s reproduction rate is 0.9 – up on Friday when it was 0.7 – which means every person contracting the illness is infecting a further person. The number of new cases are doubling every 20 days, the number of deaths every 12 days.
According to health authority figures this morning, Germany has more than 147,000 confirmed cases, and 4,912 people have died from the disease. Germany’s mortality rate from coronavirus is at 3.2%. Schaade said it had risen, as the amount of infections and subsequent deaths in care homes and hospitals had increased.
He said test capacity was at 730,000 a week in Germany, but should ideally be around 1m, with everyone who has a respiratory illness or infection of the airway getting tested. However, he pointed to practical problems with upscaling testing due to a global lack of reagents.
Despite reports this morning that children are not spreading the disease as much as had been thought, Schaade said intensive tracking showed children who had contracted the disease in Germany were found to have as much of the virus in their throats as adults, even if they often show no symptoms. He said the RKI believed children played a not-insignificant role in spreading the disease.
Schaade said advice about stopping the spread of the virus remained the same, and would do so as long as there was no vaccination: keep a distance of 1.5 metres, cough into the elbow and wash your hands. He advised the wearing of face protection that covered the nose and mouth in public places.
He said intensive tracking of those who had been in contact with infected people remained an important part of the strategy to tackle coronavirus, and was a “classical epidemiological tool”, enabling contacts to be “found and isolated so that they don’t infect more people”.
Updated
Singapore lockdown extended until 1 June
Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has extended a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus by four weeks until 1 June, after the city-state saw a sharp rise in cases.
The measures, which include the closures of most workplaces and schools, were initially set to run from 7 April until 4 May.
You can read the prime minister’s full speech here. In it, he said:
The number of new cases in the local community has levelled off, to below 30 new cases daily. This is the result of the circuit breaker, and all of us working together.
But as you know, our total case numbers have risen sharply since the last time I spoke to you, just 10 days ago.
Today alone, we have over 1,100 new cases. Almost all were detected in our migrant worker dormitories, through aggressive testing.
Updated
Coronavirus deaths in Spain are up slightly at 430, compared with 399 yesterday. Fatalities from the virus now stand at 21,282, with 204,178 reported cases and 82,514 recovered.
Details are expected to be announced today on when and how children will be allowed out after more than five weeks of confinement. However, Fernando Simón, the chief medical officer, has already said they will not be allowed to play in the street or in parks.
More 30,000 medical staff have tested positive for the virus in Spain, more than 15% of the total, and 26 have died. Widespread testing has been set back by the discovery that the latest batch of tests are inaccurate. A study by Barcelona city council revealed that only 11% of people presenting with coronavirus symptoms have been tested.
The Spanish hairdressers’ association predicts that 20,000 salons will close as a result of the pandemic, around 42% of the total.
Updated
The Afghan health ministry has said it is concerned about the spread of the coronavirus in Taliban controlled areas, as the number of confirmed cases in the country reached 1,092 – following the biggest one-day rise of infections in the capital Kabul.
Of the 66 new Covid-19 cases recorded in last 24 hours, 52 were in Kabul, pushing the total number of infections in the city to 374, overtaking Herat as the worst affected area. Herat has had 338 confirmed cases so far. Afghanistan has recorded 36 deaths, while 150 patients recovered.
After days of speculation about the health of president Ashraf Ghani – amid reports that more than a dozen presidential palace employees had been infected with coronavirus – a spokesman said on Tuesday that the president had tested negative for the disease. Sediq Sediqqi said:
Covid-19 tests were conducted for the President and the First Lady on their own request. Both results are negative. The President is healthy and is leading government efforts on all fronts. All precautions are in place to make sure his work environment is safe and healthy.
Health ministry spokesman, Wahidullah Mayar, told a press conference that the ministry was concerned about coronavirus spreading in war zones. He said the country was fighting both terror and coronavirus. “You won’t find any country like us, war is our biggest challenge in order to fight with Coronavirus,” he said.
Meanwhile the US state department said it would provide $18m to Afghanistan to fight coronavirus. “This support will include surveillance, lab improvements, case management, infection prevention and control, community engagement, and technical assistance to the Government of Afghanistan,” a statement said.
An earlier post said France was stopping all flights outside the Schengen zone, but it appears that the Reuters interpretation of the French minister’s comments was not quite right. Rather than declaring a new policy, the transport and environment minister Elisabeth Borne was simply describing the current situation.
Updated
Indonesia has reported 375 new coronavirus infections, taking the total to 7,135.
The country’s health department said there had been 26 new coronavirus deaths, taking the total to 616. More than 46,700 people have been tested and 842 people had recovered.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe's temporary release to be extended by 1 month
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s temporary release from an Iranian jail has been extended for one month, her local MP has announced.
Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, said:
Very happy to hear from Richard Ratcliffe that Nazanin’s furlough has been extended for a month - in line with other prisoners in Iran. Now is the time for our government to do all it can to make it permanent. #FreeNazanin
— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) April 21, 2020
Milan is to introduce one of Europe’s most ambitious schemes reallocating street space from cars to cycling and walking, in response to the coronavirus crisis.
Laura Laker reports that the northern Italian city and surrounding Lombardy region are among Europe’s most polluted, and have also been especially hard hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Under the nationwide lockdown, motor traffic congestion has dropped by 30-75%, and air pollution with it. City officials hope to fend off a resurgence in car use as residents return to work looking to avoid busy public transport.
The city has announced that 35km (22 miles) of streets will be transformed over the summer, with a rapid, experimental citywide expansion of cycling and walking space to protect residents as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.
You can read the full story here.
The news comes after research suggested that air pollution was a ‘key contributor’ to Covid-19 deaths. It found that almost 80% of deaths occurred in just 8% of the 66 European regions studied, all of which had the most polluted air.
THIS - Air pollution may be ‘key contributor’ to #COVID19 deaths
— Damian Carrington (@dpcarrington) April 20, 2020
- Research shows almost 80% of deaths occurred in just 8% of the 66 European regions studied - and these had the dirtiest air
Story by mehttps://t.co/EK5Xyhu1tV
The Philippines has recorded nine new coronavirus deaths and 140 additional confirmed cases.
The country’s health ministry said total coronavirus deaths had reached 437, while infections have risen to 6,599. 41 more patients have recovered, bringing total recoveries to 654.
The United Nations has announced that a World Health Organization (WHO) worker was killed when a vehicle he was driving, carrying swabs from patients to be tested for coronavirus, came under attack in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
The UN office in Myanmar said in a Facebook post it was “deeply saddened” to confirm that Pyae Song Win Maung had died in Minbya township in Rakhine state.
The United Nations is deeply saddened to confirm that Mr Pyae Sone Win Maung, a personnel (driver) of the World Health Organization, has died after being wounded in a security incident in Minbya Township in Rakhine State on the evening of Monday 20 April 2020.
The WHO colleague was driving a marked UN vehicle from Sittwe to Yangon transporting Covid-19 surveillance samples in support of the Ministry of Health and Sports. The United Nations is seeking further information on the circumstances of the incident.We extend our deepest condolences to the family of our colleague.
It did not say who carried out the attack. Both the army and Arakan Army insurgents denied responsibility and accused each other.
A nine-year-old boy who contracted Covid-19 in Eastern France did not pass the virus on despite coming into contact with more than 170 people, according to research that suggests children may not be major spreaders of the virus.
The Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, reports that the boy was among a cluster of cases linked to Steve Walsh, the Hove-based businessman who became the first Briton to test positive for coronavirus after attending a sales conference in Singapore in January.
Walsh unwittingly passed the infection on when he joined 10 British adults and a family of five at a chalet in the ski resort of Contamines-Montjoie in the Haute-Savoie region after flying in from London.
Most of the chalet guests contracted the virus, but an investigation by Public Health France found that the nine-year-old did not pass it on to either of his siblings nor anyone else, despite coming into contact with 172 people, all of whom were quarantined as a precaution, and having lessons at three separate ski schools.
You can read a full write-up of the research here –
Oktoberfest is cancelled
The German state of Bavaria has cancelled its annual folk festival, Oktoberfest. As Bloomberg journalist Oliver Sachgau notes, this will have a huge effect on Munich’s economy. Over 6 million people visit the city for the festival every year and it brings in around €1bn.
#BREAKING Germany's Oktoberfest 2020 cancelled over virus: Bavarian premier pic.twitter.com/Zs9pf10Tz6
— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 21, 2020
BREAKING NEWS: Oktoberfest 2020 is officially cancelled. This is going to have a huge impact on Munich's economy. Over 6 million people visit for the festival each year.
— Oliver Sachgau (@sachgau) April 21, 2020
Updated
Denmark - gatherings of 500 banned until at least September
The reports from Denmark that gatherings of 500 people will be allowed from 10 May were inaccurate. The Danish government has announced it will not allow gatherings of more than 500 people until at least 1 September. And that the ban on gatherings of more than 10 people will stay in place until at least 10 May. I’ve corrected this post.
Thank you to journalists and readers in Denmark for pointing that out.
Denmark moved fast to try and stem the coronavirus outbreak, first imposing lockdown restrictions on 12 March before there had been any deaths. 364 people are reported to have died in the country.
Updated
Reuters is reporting that France has stopped all flights outside the Schengen zone. French transport and environment minister Elisabeth Borne told French RTL radio:
There are no more international flights outside the Schengen zone.
I’ll bring you more on this when I get it.
Update – There seems to have been a misinterpretation of what the minister was saying here. Rather than declaring a new policy, the transport and environment minister Elisabeth Borne was simply describing the current situation.
Updated
Italy to unveil plan for easing lockdown
Italy will announce its plans for the gradual reopening from lockdown before the end of this week, the country’s prime minister has said in a Facebook post. He said measures to stem the spread of coronavirus would be eased from 4 May.
Giuseppe Conte said:
I wish I could say: let’s reopen everything. Immediately. We start tomorrow morning ... But such a decision would be irresponsible. It would make the contagion curve go up in an uncontrolled way and would nullify all the efforts we have made so far.
We must act on the basis of a national (reopening) plan, which however takes into account the territorial peculiarities.
Updated
The next London fashion week is going to be held entirely digitally, and will merge its womenswear and menswear shows, its organisers have announced.
The Guardian’s deputy fashion editor Priya Elan reports that the event in June will feature a multimedia rollout including interviews, podcasts and digital showrooms that will also be open to the public – following the lead of fashion weeks in Shanghai and Moscow that have taken place online due to coronavirus physical distancing.
Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC), said:
By creating a cultural fashion week platform, we are adapting digital innovation to best fit our needs today and enacting something to build on as a global showcase for the future.
The other side of this crisis, we hope, will be about sustainability, creativity and product that you value, respect, cherish.
Hello from London. I’m Frances Perraudin and I’ll be guiding you through this morning’s developments in the coronavirus pandemic around the world. You can contact me with tips/comments on frances.perraudin@theguardian.com and on Twitter on @fperaudin.
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan for today.
On Sunday I signed off from this blog saying I was going to once again rearrange my living room furniture. In fact, I had – as I would learn a short while later at the emergency room – just broken my foot (really).
With that, I’m hopping off, leaving you in the capable hands and feet of my colleague Frances Perraudin.
Updated
Summary
- Global deaths pass 170,000. More than 170,000 people have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. There have been more than 2.47 million cases worldwide. Just under a quarter of global deaths – 42,000 – have been in the US. The UK has nearly 126,000 cases and more than 16,500 deaths.
- Trump announces plan to suspend immigration to US. US president Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he will “temporarily suspend” immigration to the US, referring to the “invisible enemy,” a term he has used in the White House press briefings and on Twitter to refer to coronavirus.
- Singapore sees second-wave rise in number of cases. Singapore, which has been lauded for its initial response to the outbreak, has seen a surge in cases, reporting a record 1,426 new coronavirus cases on Monday, mostly among foreign workers.
- Hong Kong extends social distancing measures for 14 days. Chief executive Carrie Lam has announced an extension of the city’s social distancing measures. Hong Kong yesterday reported its first day since early March with no new cases, but Lam said “now is not the time to let down our guard”.
- Oil price falls to historic low due to coronavirus. The US oil market collapsed into negative prices for the first time as North America’s oil producers run out of space to store an unprecedented oversupply of crude left by the pandemic. However, Trump has downplayed the oil price drop, saying it’s only “short term”.
- World Health Organization chief warns that the worst is still ahead of us. The comments, from WHO director general Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros, have revived international concern just as many countries ease restrictive measures aimed at reducing its spread.
- Italy’s confirmed cases fall by 20. Italy reported 454 new deaths from coronavirus on Monday, 21 more than on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 24,114. For the first time, the number of people who are infected fell by 20 to 108,237.
Updated
‘People are drinking a lot’: frontline workers on Britain’s lockdown
Two weeks ago key workers spoke to the Guardian about their experiences during the coronavirus outbreak. Now, they tell us how things have changed, as the country endures another three weeks of lockdown.
The Guardian’s Molly Blackall and Caroline Bannock report:
You can get in touch with me directly on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Indonesia bans Eid-al-Fitr homecoming
Indonesia has banned an annual homecoming where tens of millions of people travel to see their families for Eid-al-Fitr, fearing the mass exodus could accelerate the spread of coronavirus across the country.
It is not clear how the rule will be enforced, or how many people have already embarked on journeys after losing jobs in the cities they worked in before the virus emerged. Millions of people across Indonesia have been left with no income as a result of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
President Joko Widodo had previously stopped short of banning Mudik, instead urging people not to travel. On Tuesday, he announced a change in policy, citing a transport ministry survey that said roughly a quarter of Indonesians were insisting on joining the exodus after Ramadan in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country.
It is feared that mass movement in the country of 264 million people would allow coronavirus to spread rapidly to areas of the country where health systems are far weaker. Indonesia has recorded more than 6,700 coronavirus infections, and 590 fatalities, most of which have occurred in Jakarta. A lack of testing means the actual number is likely to be higher.
Updated
“Trust us, the worst is yet ahead of us,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Monday about the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Although he did not specify exactly what the worst could look like, the WHO has previously warned of the future spread of the virus throughout Africa.
However, research suggests that only a tiny proportion of the global population – maybe as few as 2% or 3% – appear to have antibodies in the blood. Ghebreyesus cautioned countries that have began loosening lockdown laws, saying “easing restrictions is not the end of the epidemic in any country”.
Updated
UK papers Tuesday 21 April 2020
Guardian front page #Newspapers #FrontPage #News pic.twitter.com/MMpvqLJZHo
— The Papers UK (@ThePapersUK) April 21, 2020
Tomorrow's @independent front page #tomorrowspaperstoday To subscribe to the Daily Edition: https://t.co/XF8VnDHiQd pic.twitter.com/0Vcea4gzvv
— The Independent (@Independent) April 21, 2020
Daily Telegraph front page #Newspapers #FrontPage #News pic.twitter.com/k7RrC6STYp
— The Papers UK (@ThePapersUK) April 21, 2020
The Times #Newspapers #FrontPage #News pic.twitter.com/58PD5bQCpV
— The Papers UK (@ThePapersUK) April 21, 2020
FT front page #Newspapers #FrontPage #News pic.twitter.com/o5bQ9SiESp
— The Papers UK (@ThePapersUK) April 21, 2020
Mirror front page #Newspapers #FrontPage #News pic.twitter.com/jvztAF7uCx
— The Papers UK (@ThePapersUK) April 21, 2020
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s political opponents have condemned her decision to keep the country’s tough lockdown restrictions in place for a further five days beyond the initial four-week lockdown period.
“We have stopped a wave of devastation,” the prime minister said on Monday as she announced that the strictest period of national shutdown would continue until just before midnight on Monday 27 April. Marginally looser rules – level-3 restrictions – will then be in place until 11 May.
The country recorded one death from Covid-19 on Tuesday, taking the toll to 13. Five new cases were registered and 1,445 people in total in New Zealand have had the coronavirus.
The opposition, led by National party leader, Simon Bridges, reversed earlier support for Ardern on the need for a lockdown. Business owners felt as though they were “sacrificial lambs” due to the shutdown measures, Bridges told a parliamentary committee.
Updated
Australian economy likely to face biggest output contraction since Great Depression
Australia’s reserve bank governor, Phil Lowe, says the country’s economy faces the biggest contraction in output since the Great Depression.
The RBA expects:
- Australia is likely to experience “the biggest contraction in national output since the 1930s”.
- The decline is estimated to be 10% over the first half of 2020, with most of the decline in June quarter.
- Total hours work are estimated to decline by 20%, a “staggeringly large number”, Lowe said.
- Unemployment is expected to be 10% by June.
- The RBA also predicts negative inflation, for the first time since the 1960s.
Lowe sounds a positive note though: “As a country we are up to the task ... all arms of public policy are pulling together.”
Follow the latest on this story with the Australia coronavirus live blog.
Visa conditions that block thousands of migrants in the UK from accessing most state-funded benefits, tax credits and housing assistance should be suspended during the Covid-19 crisis, the shadow immigration minister has said.
Most migrants from outside the European Economic Area with temporary permission to remain in the UK have “no recourse to public funds” status, including sponsored skilled workers, family members of British citizens, self-employed people, investors, entrepreneurs and asylum seekers. The NRPF rules also apply to undocumented migrants.
There have been warnings that without other sources of financial support, some temporary migrants with NRPF status may feel compelled to continue working and risk exposing themselves and others to coronavirus.
The Grenfell Tower inquiry could resume by Zoom videolink, as the inquiry’s solicitor sets out options for restarting hearings during coronavirus crisis.
The public inquiry into the disaster could resume in virtual form, its senior legal adviser has told bereaved people and survivors.
An online system has been successfully tested by role-playing barristers, and hearings could be restarted within weeks if the option is chosen following a consultation launched on Monday.
Updated
Here is everything we know so far about Trump’s tweet saying he plans to sign an executive order temporarily halting immigration to the US.
Donald Trump has been accused of “xenophobic scapegoating” after he announced he will order a temporary ban on immigration into the US to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
There were no other details on the timing or scope of the president’s proposed executive order and no official policy statement from the White House.
Instead there was a lone tweet issued by Trump at 10.06pm on Monday. Without warning, he wrote: “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy” – a phrase he commonly applies to Covid-19 – “as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!”
The post generated instant uncertainty. Similar moves by Trump in the past have triggered mayhem at airports in America and beyond as well as legal challenges. Such an order would be a far-reaching use of executive power from a president who last week claimed he had “total” authority over states’ efforts to reopen their economies.
Zimbabwe faces malaria outbreak as it locks down to counter coronavirus
Nyasha Chingono reports for the Guardian from Harare:
At least 131 people have died from malaria in Zimbabwe in a new outbreak, adding pressure to a country already struggling to deal with Covid-19.
The fatalities occurred in 201 outbreaks recorded across the country, according to the Ministry of Health. Meanwhile Zimbabwe’s lockdown has been extended by two weeks to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Malaria transmission is seasonal and unstable, causing sickness and death across all age groups. In Zimbabwe, epidemics occasionally occur during the warm and wet season, particularly in February, March and April.
Health experts predict the figures will continue to rise across the country, although the true figures may well be masked by families being unable to access clinics or failing to report cases.
The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that any lifting of lockdowns to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus must be gradual, and if restrictions were to be relaxed too soon, there would be a resurgence of infections, Reuters reports.
“Lockdown measures have proved effective, and people must be ready for a new way of living to allow society to function while the coronavirus is being kept in check,” said Takeshi Kasai, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.
Governments considering lifting lockdown measures should do so carefully and in stages, and continue to monitor the epidemic situation, he said. So long as the coronavirus is circulating, no country is safe from a potentially overwhelming outbreak, he said.
“Individuals and society need to be ready for a new way of living,” he said.
More than 13,400 people linked to a Covid-19 outbreak in a village on the outskirts of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi have tested negative for the coronavirus, the government said on Monday.
Supported by the mass quarantine of tens of thousands and an aggressive contact-tracing programme, Vietnam has recorded just 268 cases of the novel coronavirus so far, and no deaths. The country has stayed clear of the virus for four consecutive days so far, Reuters reports.
The government said in a statement: “97.7% of the total samples tested negative for the virus. Results of the rest will be released in coming days.”
Ha Loi village, 32km (20 miles) from the capital city, was considered an epicentre and was placed under lockdown since April 7, after 13 people living there, including a Samsung Display worker, were infected.
Vietnam’s health ministry on Monday said over 200 samples linked to the Samsung Display worker also tested negative for the virus.
Summary
- Trump announces plan to suspend immigration to US. US president Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he will “temporarily suspend” immigration to the US, referring to the “Invisible Enemy,” a term he has used in the White House press briefings and on Twitter to refer to coronavirus.
- Global deaths pass 170,000. More than 170,000 people have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.The toll currently stands at 170,324.Deaths in the US alone, at 42,308, account for just under a quarter of this figure.
- Singapore has highest cases in Southeast Asia. Singapore reported a record 1,426 new coronavirus cases on Monday, mostly among foreign workers, pushing its total number of confirmed infections to 8,014, AP reports.
- Maryland obtains 500,000 coronavirus tests from South Korea. The announcement raised questions about governors circumventing the federal government to obtain medical equipment.
- Hong Kong extends social distancing measures for 14 days. Chief executive Carrie Lam has announced an extension of the city’s social distancing measures.Hong Kong reported its first day since early March with no new cases yesterday. But Lam said “now is not the time to let down our guard”,
- Oil prices fall to historic lows. The US oil market has collapsed into negative prices for the first time in history as North America’s oil producers run out of space to store an unprecedented oversupply of crude left by the pandemic.
- US President Donald Trump downplays the oil price drop, saying it’s only “short term”. Asked if he would like Opec+ to make more cuts, he said “we’ve already done that”.He said oil producers need to “do more by the market” in terms of production cuts.
- The World Health Organization chief warns that the worst is still ahead of us, reviving international concern the alarm just as many countries ease restrictive measures aimed at reducing its spread.
- Italy’s confirmed cases fall by 20. Italy reported 454 new deaths from coronavirus on Monday, 21 more than on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 24,114. For the first time, the number of people who are currently infected fell by 20 to 108,237.
- The Spanish government is to propose that the European Union create a €1.5tn fund to aid recovery in countries worst-hit by the coronavirus crisis, Spain’s El Pais newspaper reported.
- Several countries began to ease their lockdown restrictions. Australians to the beach in Sydney but only for exercise. India allowed some industrial and agricultural firms to reopen, while Iran opened some shopping malls and intercity highways.
- A Japanese specialist in infectious diseases has said he is “very pessimistic” about the likelihood of the Tokyo Olympics going ahead next year. Kentaro Iwata, a professor at Kobe University Hospital said: “I don’t think the Olympics are likely to be held next year. People will be coming from hundreds of nations ... and although Japan might have the disease under control by next summer, I don’t think that will be the case everywhere.”
- New Zealanders will remain in total lockdown until 27 April prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said, with restrictions easing if elimination progress is maintained.
Updated
Staying in Asia pacific for now: about 800,000 Australians lost their job in the first three weeks of coronavirus restrictions.
Australian workers suffered a 6.7% reduction in take-home pay and about 800,000 people – 6% of the workforce – lost their job in the first three weeks of restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Tuesday, people under 20 have suffered the biggest decline in jobs and wages, with accommodation and food services, arts and recreation services the hardest hit industries.
The very old and very young experienced the worst job cuts, with 9.7% of those 70 and over losing employment, and 9.9% of those 20 and under.
Women were slightly more likely than men to have lost their jobs – 5.9% and 5.8% respectively – and lost more pay – 7%, compared with 6.4% for men.
Japanese police reported last month the deaths of 11 people deemed to be unnatural before tests showed the victims had been infected with the new coronavirus, media said on Tuesday.
Japan, has more than 260 virus-related deaths according to public broadcaster NHK, but there are questions as to whether it is testing sufficiently.
Some of the 11 died at home and one was found lying in the street, the Nikkei business daily and other media said, citing the National Police Agency. Six were in Tokyo, the capital, where virus cases have topped 3,000, from a nationwide tally of 11,157.
Contacted by Reuters, the National Police Agency said it could not confirm the facts before receiving questions by fax.
One of the cases police reported in the month to mid-April involved a man in his 60s found on a street in eastern Tokyo and taken to hospital, the Nikkei said. A PCR test after he died from symptoms of pneumonia confirmed that he had been infected, it added.
The government has said it follows World Health Organization guidelines for virus testing, with all suspicious pneumonia deaths tested for the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
Podcast: is seven days in isolation enough?
How long should you remain in isolation if you have symptoms of Covid-19? It depends on who you ask. The UK government guidelines recommend seven days from the onset of symptoms, whereas the World Health Organization advises 14. To get to the bottom of this apparent disparity, Nicola Davis discusses viral shedding with Dr Charlotte Houldcroft, and asks what the evidence currently tells us about how long we stay infectious for:
Global deaths pass 170,000
More than 170,000 people have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The toll currently stands at 170,324.
Deaths in the US alone, at 42,308, account for just under a quarter of this figure.
The number of known infections worldwide is approaching 2.5 million, with 2,477,426 currently confirmed.
These are the ten worst-affected country in terms of the number of confirmed infections:
- US: 787,370
- Spain: 200,210
- Italy: 181,228
- France: 156,480
- Germany: 147,065
- United Kingdom: 125,856
- Turkey: 90,980
- China: 83,849
- Iran: 83,505
- Russia: 47,121
Updated
Australia’s national cabinet is lifting some restrictions on elective surgery, including IVF, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced, after the Anzac Day public holiday on 25 April.
He said this decision will see a re-opening of around 25% of activity in elective surgery in private and public hospitals, and that the decision includes post-cancer reconstructive surgeries, all procedures for children under the age of 18, all joint replacements, and cataract and eye procedures.
Morrison said:
Today we agreed to lift restrictions on elective surgery after Anzac Day, after the long weekend. This will not mean an immediate return to normal with elective surgery, but a gradual restart, subject to of course to capacity and other constraints that may exist in each jurisdiction … one of the reasons why we have been able to do that, is the increase in the amount of personal protective equipment that we have been able to secure.
Updated
In Australia, foreign minister Marise Payne told the ABC television programme Insiders on Sunday that that her concerns over China’s transparency were “at a very high point”, and that she also shared some of the US’s concerns about the WHO. She joined called for an independent review into the origins of the virus as well as the outbreak response.
Reaction from China continues to roll in, this time from state-backed online news site, the Global Times. The editorial accuses Australia of being a “petty follower” of the US, and “engineering a divorce from China”.
The Global Times editorial, published late yesterday, saidAustralia was acting more and more like “a petty follower of the US”, after having alreadybanned Huawei from its 5G network, and allegedChinese infiltration in domestic politics.
It said Australia was trying but failing to recalibrate its Asia policy, and there was “no area of importance to Australia politically that doesn’t have a China dimension to it”.
“However, the debate in Australia in recent years has largely centered on China as inimical to Australian interests and poses a threat,” it said.
“Therefore, Australian politicians are engineering a divorce from China in the context of US policy objectives.”
It said Australia didn’t miss the chance to talk on behalf of the US in the wake of the outbreak, and was using the pandemic as an excuse “to engage in political point scoring with the US and its egotistical president”.
China has reported 11 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Monday, down from 12 a day earlier, with no new deaths.
Of the 11, four were imported, the National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin.
Six of the remaining cases were in the north-eastern border province of Heilongjiang, the site of some diplomatic unease with Russia.
China also reported 37 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, compared with 49 a day earlier.
Mainland China now has an accumulated total of 82,758 cases and 4,632 deaths
A few hours ago, Donald Trump played down Monday’s unprecedented oil price crash. Here are some clips from his press briefing
In non-coronavirus news:
Kim Jong-un underwent heart surgery earlier this month and is recovering at his private villa, according to a South Korean report, with US media citing officials as saying the North Korean leader was in “grave danger” after the procedure.
If accurate, the surgery claim, made by the Daily NK website, would explain Kim’s absence from an event to mark the anniversary of the birth of his grandfather – and the country’s founder – Kim Il-sung.
Hong Kong extends social distancing measures for 14 days
Moving away from Trump’s announcement for a minute to Hong Kong, where chief executive Carrie Lam has announced an extension of the city’s social distancing measures.
Hong Kong reported its first day since early March with no new cases yesterday. But Lam said “now is not the time to let down our guard”, and the social distancing measures currently in place will be extended for another 14 days. The measures, which have closed numerous types of businesses and venues and dictate no more that four people gathering together, were due to expire on Wednesday.
Lam said it’s a difficult balancing act between keeping citizens safe, and keeping the city and its economy alive.
“In striking this balance we have to first of all take science as a basis,” she said.
“Secondly is to assess the risks and thirdly is to evaluate the impact on business on the economy and on social living.”
She said for the time being, “the better balance to be struck and a safer approach to ensure all the successes Hong Kong has achieved over the last few months will not be wasted, is to extend the social distancing measures for another 14 days.”
She said the government was immediately rolling out economic support measures which were approved last week.
With a few mixed metaphors, Lam earlier said there was a “tsunami” of unemployment, and they needed to “stop the bleeding”.
Donald Trump has announced he will sign an executive order “temporarily” banning immigration into the US because of the coronavirus pandemic.
At 10.06pm on Monday, the US president tweeted: “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy” – a phrase he commonly applies to the Covid-19 – “as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!”
There were no other details on the timing of the order or how far reaching it might be.
Facing widespread criticism for his handling of the crisis, Trump has repeatedly pointed to travel restrictions he imposed on China and Europe as evidence that he was taking it seriously.
The latest move is consistent with Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and pledge to build a wall on the US-Mexico border, as well as his promises to put American workers first. More than 22 million people have filed for unemployment aid since Trump declared a national emergency on 13 March.
Trump announces plan to suspend immigration to US
US president Donald Trump has just announced on Twitter that he will “temporarily suspend” immigration to the US, referring to the “Invisible Enemy,” a term he has used in the White House press briefings and on Twitter to refer to coronavirus.
In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2020
Journalist Garrett M. Graff has tweeted that Trump’s announcement comes as the Department of Homeland Security has no Senate-confirmed leadership in immigration:
Whatever this means, it comes at a time when @DHSgov, which oversees immigration, has no Senate-confirmed leadership on this issue. No Sec, Dep Sec, no General Counsel, and no head of *ANY* of the three border/immigration agencies. https://t.co/9McdhCBS1T
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) April 21, 2020
This is breaking news, we will bring you more shortly.
Updated
As the world scrambles to find a cure to coronavirus, there is one self-administered treatment that is undoubtedly not going to provide the solution: 40% proof alcohol.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that excess alcohol consumption may weaken the body’s immune system and render people vulnerable to contracting Covid-19. So it was surprising that John Daly, the professional golfer from California, should have posted a video earlier this month suggesting vodka could combat the virus.
It was doubly surprising that Donald Trump’s golf company, Trump Golf, should then have retweeted the video on its official Twitter feed:
A big thank you to @PGA_JohnDaly who has always been one of our biggest fans. John thank you for the friendship. Everyone at @TrumpGolf truly loves you! #StaySafe #AmericaTogether pic.twitter.com/coWifMSa3W
— Trump Golf (@TrumpGolf) April 9, 2020
The UN General Assembly approved a resolution Friday night calling for global action to rapidly scale up development, manufacturing and access to medicine, vaccines and medical equipment to confront the new coronavirus pandemic, AP reports.
The Mexican-drafted resolution requests UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to work with the World Health Organization and recommend options to ensure timely and equitable access to testing, medical supplies, drugs and future coronavirus vaccines for all in need, especially in developing countries.
It reaffirms the fundamental role of the United Nations system in coordinating the global response to control and contain the spread of Covid-19 and in supporting the 193 UN member states, and in this regard acknowledges the crucial leading role played by the World Health Organization.
US President Donald Trump suspended funding to the World Health Organization earlier this month, accusing the UN agency of failing to stop the virus from spreading when it first surfaced in China, saying it must be held accountable. But the United States did not block adoption of the resolution.
Podcast: WHO and the coronavirus pandemic
The World Health Organization has been at the forefront of the global response to new diseases and with differing outcomes. It was hailed for the way it dealt with Sars but pilloried for its handling of Ebola. Now, with its biggest challenge yet, it is in the crosshairs again as Donald Trump threatens to withdraw funding:
Sixteen migrants from several countries have tested positive for coronavirus in Mexicos northern border state of Tamaulipas, the state government said Monday.
The state’s announcement came the same day that the US government said it will continue to quickly expel migrants it encounters along the border for at least another month in response to the Covid-19 outbreak, AP reports.
Under the US policy change spurred by the virus, the US government has sent some 10,000 Mexicans and Central Americans back to Mexico, according to data from the US Border Patrol.
The situation led Tamaulipas to ask the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to not accept anymore Central Americans delivered back across the border to Mexico from the United States.
Fifteen of the infected migrants from Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and Cameroon were staying at a migrant shelter in the city of Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas. They are in isolation.
The Nazareth migrants shelter in Nuevo Laredo said three of the infected migrants were minors. Of the 15, three were hospitalized but were released back to the shelter. More tests have been done at the shelter but no other cases have been confirmed.
Maryland obtains 500,000 coronavirus tests from South Korea
The US state of Maryland has obtained 500,000 tests from South Korea following weeks of negotiations, Larry Hogan, the state’s Republican governor, said on Monday, in an announcement that raised questions about governors circumventing the federal government to obtain medical equipment.
Hogan confirmed on Monday that the state has obtained the tests from LabGenomics. Speaking in Annapolis alongside Yumi Hogan, Maryland’s first lady, the governor said a Korean Air passenger plane arrived at BWI airport on Saturday carrying the tests.
Hogan said insufficient testing remained “the most serious obstacle to safely reopening our states” and celebrated the “exponential, game-changing step forward” that Maryland is taking:
Updated
Should Facebook ban anti-lockdown protests? The thorny questions of civil rights amid coronavirus
Facebook said on Monday that it was banning users from organising “events that defy government’s guidance on social distancing”. The company’s decision to selectively enforce state public health orders came amid a spate of rallies protesting against statewide stay-at-home orders in cities cross the US, and it drew condemnation from rightwing supporters of the protest movement, Donald Trump Jr, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The controversy highlighted the challenges that arise when a private company controls so much of the digital “public square” – especially at a time when access to physical public squares is limited by public health orders:
On Monday, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced New Zealanders will remain in total lockdown until 27 April, with restrictions easing if elimination progress is maintained.
Here is what that elimination progress looks like so far:
New Zealand’s coronavirus trajectory: from a daily high of 89 new cases to 5. https://t.co/Yu1eyAAkTV
— Rachel Morris (@RachelMorris) April 21, 2020
Here is Morgan Godfery on what that lockdown meant for the country’s morale:
Here is the story on Ardern’s decision to extend the lockdown:
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New Zealanders have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to feed hungry zoo animals in the midst of lockdown as the prime minister announced coronavirus lockdown restrictions would continue for at least three more weeks.
Orana Wildlife Park on the outskirts of Christchurch is home to 400 wild and domestic animals, including chimps, meerkats, rhinos and giraffes. The zoo has been shut to the public during the lockdown, with keepers, deemed essential workers, working split shifts to stay safe.
Unable to earn any income from visitors, which usually accounts for 95% of its revenue, the zoo is now struggling to pay its weekly NZ$70,000 (US$42,000) food bills, and has appealed to the general public for help. The gorillas alone eat NZ$800 (US$485) worth of vegetables every week.
In just four days more than 4,000 Kiwis have donated more than NZ$230,000.
Over a barrel: how oil prices dropped below zero
US oil prices turned negative for the first time in history on Monday amid the deepest fall in demand in 25 years. A flood of unwanted oil in the market caused the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark price for US oil, to plummet to almost –$40 a barrel after the fastest plunge in history. That meant producers were paying buyers to take oil off their hands.
Here’s how it happened and what it means:
Residents of a suburban New York City county that was one of the earliest US hot spots for the coronavirus sued the World Health Organization on Monday, accusing it of gross negligence in covering up and responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, Reuters reports.
In a proposed class action, three residents of Westchester county accused the WHO of failing to timely declare a pandemic, monitor China’s response to the original outbreak, provide treatment guidelines, advise members on how to respond including through travel restrictions, and coordinate a global response.
They also accused the WHO of conspiring with China’s government, which was not named as a defendant, to cover up Covid-19’s severity.
The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Full story below:
US president Donald Trump has released a campaign ad that splices a Late Late Show with James Corden interview from 14 April where House Speaker and democrat Nancy Pelosi showed off an ice-cream-filled freezer with footage of Americans lining up at food banks:
Oof: pic.twitter.com/at1nyezVBB
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 21, 2020
In the interview, Pelosi also criticised the lack of testing and data collection – in particular racial data on the effects of the virus – in the US.
“If you’re not science-based you have the luxury of saying whatever you feel like,” she said.
The New York Times wrote of the clip:
When the substance of her interview with Mr. Corden was over, the speaker — who is known for her love of chocolate — engaged in one of the host’s playful episodes of show-and-tell, pulling open her freezer to reveal a drawer full of neatly stacked containers of $12-a-pint artisan ice cream, including her favorite chocolate.
The clip quickly went viral, prompting Ms. Pelosi’s conservative critics to blast her as tone deaf and the Trump campaign to brand her an “ice queen.”
A summary of US news now from my colleague Sam Levin.
- New York’s governor said the number of cases were now in a “descent”.
- Anti-lockdown protests emerged in Pennsylvania, California and elsewhere.
- Nearly 100 American transit workers have died from the coronavirus as basic measures to keep employees safe have lagged in cities across the United States, a Guardian US investigation has found.
- US oil prices dipped below zero for first time on record.
- Anthony Fauci has warned that if the US moves too quickly to end stay-at-home orders there could be another surge in Covid-19 cases.
- Maryland’s Republican governor directly obtained 500,000 tests from South Korea, prompting criticisms from Trump.
- Some states, including Georgia and South Carolina, announced plans to soon reopen businesses.
- The WHO’s director general said that no details about the coronavirus outbreak were hidden from the US by the organization.
- The Senate failed to reach a deal on the next coronavirus relief bill.
In the US, a South Texas emergency room physician has chosen a novel place to self-isolate as he’s treating patients with the novel coronavirus.
Dr. Jason Barnes made a temporary home of his children’s treehouse in the backyard of the family’s Corpus Christi home, AP reports. He is among many health care workers who are leaving their homes or or taking other precautions to protect their families after being exposed to the virus.
Barnes, a 39-year-old physician at Christus Spohn Hospital Beeville and Christus Spohn Hospital South in Corpus Christi, told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that he has spent nearly three weeks in the cabin treehouse and often shouts down to his kids if he needs something or sometimes walks up to the back picture window door of their home to make his request.
Singapore has highest cases in Southeast Asia
Singapore reported a record 1,426 new coronavirus cases on Monday, mostly among foreign workers, pushing its total number of confirmed infections to 8,014, AP reports.
The tiny city-state now has the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia, a massive increase from just 200 infections on March 15, when its outbreak appeared to be nearly under control. About 3,000 cases have been reported in just the past three days.
Low-wage migrant workers, a vital part of Singapore’s workforce, now account for at least 60% of its infections. More than 200,000 workers from Bangladesh, India and other poorer Asian countries live in tightly packed dormitories. Clusters of infections have expanded rapidly in the dorms after they were overlooked in the governments earlier health measures.
Social distancing is impossible in the dormitories, which house up to 20 men per room with a shared kitchen, toilets and other facilities. Most work in construction, shipping and maintenance jobs.
Virgin Australia has gone into voluntary administration after the federal government again ruled out saving the airline, Guardian Australia’s Ben Butler and Anne Davies report.
The move will put more than 10,000 jobs and more than $1bn in prepaid tickets at risk.
The airline, which has been largely grounded since 25 March due to the coronavirus crisis, will appoint John Greig, Vaughan Strawbridge and Richard Hughes of big four accounting firm Deloitte as administrators.
The move comes after the federal government rebuffed its plea for a $1.4bn loan as part of a wider bailout of the industry and despite duelling offers of support from New South Wales and Queensland.
Dr Anthony Fauci has warned that if the US moves too quickly to end stay-at-home orders there could be another surge in Covid-19 cases
Speaking to ABC News, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a key member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, was much more cautious than Donald Trump, who has downplayed the outbreak and pushed to open the US quickly.
“If you jump the gun and go into a situation where you have a big spike, you’re gonna set yourself back,” Fauci said. “So as painful as it is to go by the careful guidelines of gradually phasing into a reopening, it’s going to backfire. That’s the problem.”
Fauci also warned: “Unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going to happen.
Summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, with me, Helen Sullivan.
Another day, another bizarre White House press briefing. This one ended with Trump citing a range of different numbers for the potential deaths the US could have experienced. Without the actions taken by his administration, there could have been 700,000 deaths, a million deaths, or maybe “millions”, Trump said.
As of today, there have been more than 41,000 deaths recorded in the US, or just under one in four deaths worldwide.
A reminder that you can get in touch with me directly on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
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The global number of deaths tops 169,595 with more than 2.47 million confirmed cases, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University.
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US deaths pass 41,000 – nearly a quarter of the global total – with infections at just under 783,290, or just just under a third of the world’s total.
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Oil prices fall to historic lows. The US oil market has collapsed into negative prices for the first time in history as North America’s oil producers run out of space to store an unprecedented oversupply of crude left by the pandemic.
- US President Donald Trump downplays the oil price drop, saying it’s only “short term”. Asked if he would like Opec+ to make more cuts, he said “we’ve already done that”.He said oil producers need to “do more by the market” in terms of production cuts.
- The World Health Organization chief warns that the worst is still ahead of us in the coronavirus outbreak, reviving international concern the alarm just as many countries ease restrictive measures aimed at reducing its spread. WHO director-general Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros also said that easing restrictions is not the end of the pandemic.
- Italy’s confirmed cases fall by 20. Italy reported 454 new deaths from coronavirus on Monday, 21 more than on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 24,114. For the first time, the number of people who are currently infected fell by 20 to 108,237. Meanwhile, the total cases to date, including victims and survivors, rose by 2,256 to 181,228, the smallest increase since 10 March.
- US scuppers G20 coronavirus statement on strengthening WHO. US hostility to the World Health Organization scuppered the publication of a communique by G20 health ministers on Sunday that committed to strengthening the WHO’s mandate in coordinating a response to the global coronavirus pandemic.
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The Spanish government is to propose that the European Union create a €1.5tn (£1.3tn) fund to aid recovery in countries worst-hit by the coronavirus crisis, Spain’s El Pais newspaper reported. Citing an internal document, the paper reported that Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez plans to make a formal proposal to his EU colleagues during a summit on Thursday.
- Several countries began to ease their lockdown restrictions. Australians returned to the beach in Sydney but only for exercise. India allowed some industrial and agricultural firms to reopen, while Iran opened some shopping malls and intercity highways.
- A Japanese specialist in infectious diseases has said he is “very pessimistic” about the likelihood of the Tokyo Olympics going ahead next year. Kentaro Iwata, a professor at Kobe University Hospital said: “I don’t think the Olympics are likely to be held next year. People will be coming from hundreds of nations ... and although Japan might have the disease under control by next summer, I don’t think that will be the case everywhere.”
- New Zealanders will remain in total lockdown until 27 April prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said, with restrictions easing if elimination progress is maintained.
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