We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest updates:
The UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is preparing to wind down the coronavirus wage-subsidy scheme for workers from July as part of government plans to gradually remove lockdown measures.
In a sign of the mounting costs to the exchequer with almost a quarter of employees in Britain furloughed in the past fortnight, the chancellor is expected to announce that the Covid-19 job retention scheme will be steadily scaled back as restrictions on business activity are lifted.
The Treasury is understood to be examining several options for tapering the scheme, including cutting the 80% wage subsidy paid by the state to 60% and lowering the £2,500 cap on monthly payments. Another option promoted by employers’ groups to allow furloughed staff to work, but with a smaller state subsidy, is also under consideration.
Sources indicated that a final decision has yet to be made, but the Treasury was working closely with No 10 as Boris Johnson prepares to outline plans on Sunday to gradually lift lockdown restrictions. After more than a month of tight controls on social and business activity across Britain and in other countries around the world, the UK is on the brink of the deepest recession in living memory:
Why is the White House winding down the coronavirus taskforce?
Vice President Mike Pence insisted that “it really is all a reflection of the tremendous progress we’ve made as a country”, despite data on the continuing public health risk.
Recently there has been some tension in messaging about the virus from key members of the group.
Fauci has cautioned that the US needs to have enough testing capacity to reopen safely, and is not yet at that stage. Fauci said the US will need to double its current level of testing within several weeks.
“I don’t think there’s a chance that this virus is just going to disappear,” he told National Geographic. “It’s going to be around, and if given the opportunity, it will resurge.”
But acknowledging that the US is still behind on testing does not chime with Trump’s messaging.
In recent days, Trump has started to amp up talk about reopening the economy, saying Tuesday morning that it is “going to happen pretty fast”.
Summary
Here are the main developments from the last few hours:
- Global confirmed cases exceed 3.65 million. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say at least 3,651,010 people have been infected since the outbreak began, while at least 256,239 are known to have died. The figures, which are based on official and media reports, are likely to significantly underestimate the true scale of the outbreak.
- US death toll surpasses 70,000. At least 70,847 people are now known to have died in the USA, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That represents more than a quarter of all pandemic-linked deaths reported across the world.
- White House looking to wind down task force. Mike Pence has confirmed that the Trump administration is reportedly looking to wind down the coronavirus task force in the coming weeks, even as the rate of new infections continues to rise across most of the US.
- Donald Trump said it’s time to reopen businesses. Speaking in Arizona, he said, “Will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon.” he said.
- Top UK adviser resigns over lockdown breach. Professor Neil Ferguson, the epidemiologist credited with convincing the UK government to abandon thoughts of pursuing herd immunity in favour of physical distancing has resigned amid allegations he breached lockdown rules.
- Britain’s death toll from the coronavirus has passed Italy’s to become the second-highest worldwide after the United States, and most impacted in Europe.
- Italy records lowest increase in cases for two months. Deaths in Italy climb by 236 on Tuesday, against 195 the day before, while the daily tally of new infections stands at 1,075, against 1,221 on Monday. It is the lowest number of new cases for two months.
- WHO urges investigation of possible early cases. The recent discovery that a man in France was possibly infected before the virus was even reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by Chinese authorities has prompted the body to investigate other suspicious cases. The WHO said the findings were not surprising but gave a “whole new picture on everything”.
- Major foreign travel to be limited this summer – Macron. It is unlikely French people will be able to undertake major foreign trips this summer and even trips within Europe may have to be limited to reduce the risk of a resurgence of the epidemic, said the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
- Austria: reopening shops has not accelerated spread. The first loosening of lockdown measures in Austria three weeks ago, in which thousands of shops reopened, has not led to a new spike in infections, the country’s health minister said.
-
Face masks should be worn on flights in future. The International Air Transport Association, which represents global airlines, says it is recommending the wearing of masks on flights, though normal seat allocation can be maintained.
Virgin Atlantic to cut jobs and quit Gatwick. Virgin Atlantic 28plans to cut more than 3,000 jobsand shut its operations at Gatwick airport.
Majority of new Spain cases among medics. More than 70% of new cases detected in Spain over the past 24 hours are among medical staff, the health ministry says. With the epidemic receding after peaking more than a month ago, Spain has begun moves to ease out of the lockdown. - Israel and Netherlands studies claim progress in antibody trials. Separate studies in Israel and the Netherlands claim to have created antibodies that can block the infection, a potential future treatment touted as a game-changer until a vaccine becomes available.
- No guarantee Tour de France will go ahead. “Many people are begging me to keep the Tour even behind closed doors,” French sports minister, Roxana Mărăcineanu told France television. “I hope it will take place but I am not sure. We do not know what the epidemic will be like after lockdown.”
Updated
Hi, Helen Sullivan with you now.
The pandemic has cost Walt Disney $1.4bn (£1.12bn) in the last three months as it shut down its theme parks around the world and halted film and TV productions, the company has announced.
The world’s largest media company said its operating income for the three months ending 28 March had fallen 37% to $2.4bn after it was forced to close parks, cancel cruises and delay future productions.
Updated
The French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi SA plans to enrol thousands of subjects globally for trials of an experimental vaccine it is developing with GlaxoSmithKline Plc, a senior executive has told Reuters.
Sanofi, whose Pasteur division has an established track record in influenza vaccines, is working with the British firm GSK to come up with a candidate for trial it hopes will be ready next year.
Sanofi Pasteur executives told Reuters the company hopes to start early-stage trials in September, with hundreds of subjects enrolled.
While phase one vaccine trials typically involves a small number of healthy volunteers to test for safety, Sanofi said it had opted for higher numbers to secure stronger data sooner.
“We envisioned phase one to actually have several hundreds of subjects, so it is really a phase one/two trial,” said John Shiver, head of Sanofi vaccine research.
Ferguson is not the first high-profile figure to apparently fall foul of lockdown rules. Ministers, scientific advisers and footballers have all been criticised for their behaviour:
Prof Neil Ferguson is the academic whose modelling evidence has been central to not just Boris Johnson’s coronavirus strategy, but for those strategies in France, Germany and the US too. His resignation is a huge blow to the government’s authority on the pandemic.
It was his work that prompted a seismic shift in government policy in the UK response from essentially letting the virus spread through the population to the wholescale stay-at-home policy now in place.
The evidence that changed the government’s policy came from the centre he founded with colleagues at Imperial College, the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, which collaborates with the World Health Organization.
His decision to resign from the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), after allowing his lover to visit him at home during the lockdown while lecturing the public on the need for strict social distancing, will leave a gaping hole for ministers to fill.
Stormont’s health minister has accused Aer Lingus of operating like the pandemic has not occurred after images emerged of a packed flight.
Robin Swann criticised the airline after pictures showed an almost full cabin with no apparent evidence of social distancing. Pictures shared of the Belfast to London Heathrow flight on Monday morning showed row after row filled with passengers.
Aer Lingus carried out a review following the incident and has announced it is adding an extra flight to the route and making changes to boarding procedures.
Trump said it’s time to reopen businesses.
Speaking in Arizona, Trump said it’s time to reopen businesses.
Will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes.
But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon. I’m viewing our great citizens of this country to a certain extent and to a large extent as warriors.
Updated
Trump has said key advisers Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx will still be involved after the taskforce is dismantled, according to Reuters.
He claimed the US is moving into a second phase, dealing with the aftermath of the outbreak and reopening services, even as the CDC announces another 823 deaths.
Mike Pence and the taskforce have done a great job. But we’re now looking at a little bit of a different form and that form is safety and opening and we’ll have a different group probably set up for that.
Asked if he was proclaiming “mission accomplished” in the fight against the pandemic, Trump said, “No, not at all. The mission accomplished is when it’s over.”
Confirming a New York Times story published earlier, the US vice-president Mike Pence has said the White House is having preliminary talks about when to wind down its coronavirus taskforce and may start moving coordination of the US response on to federal agencies in late May.
Speaking to reporters in his office with members of the task force, Pence said the president Donald Trump is starting to look at 25 May as the time to shift management of the response to the pandemic, which has killed more than 70,000 Americans.
Trump placed Pence in charge of the taskforce, which has been meeting almost every day since it was formed in March.
Mexico is winning the battle and has enough spare capacity to see off the peak of the pandemic this week, but the number of deaths linked to the disease is likely higher than official data reflects, a top health official has said.
The deputy health minister Hugo López-Gatell, who has spearheaded Mexico’s response to the outbreak, has told Reuters the country is containing the virus, even as he cautioned that a second wave of seasonal illness could strike in October.
We’re winning. The numbers are encouraging. We still have a very broad response capacity.
Since closing schools and ramping up social distancing in late March, Mexico has urged its 126 million inhabitants to stay at home and ordered the suspension of non-essential business activities.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 19,138 new confirmed cases; taking the total to at least 1,171,510. The number of deaths has risen by 823 to 68,279, it added.
The figures do not necessarily reflect those reported by individual states.
A regional capital in Brazil has become the country’s first city to declare a total lockdown – in direct opposition to the president Jair Bolsonaro, who has railed against social isolation and dismissed a soaring death-toll.
The lockdown in São Luís, capital of the north-estern state of Maranhão, and three neighbouring towns, was ordered by a judge after intensive care beds in state government hospitals filled up. States such as Rio de Janeiro are watching closely. But the move came as looser social isolation measures introduced by state governors crumble across Brazil and cases soar.
Roadblocks have been set up, private cars banned, and only essential services such as pharmacies and supermarkets allowed to open. “People don’t understand how harmful it is to be on the street,” said Elvira de Araujo, 60, a public servant isolating in São José de Ribamar, one of the towns affected, who has lost relatives to the disease.
Maranhão’s leftist governor Flávio Dino defended the lockdown in a television interview. “We trust in the good faith of people,” he said. Maranhão has reported 4,227 cases and 249 deaths but numbers across Brazil are believed to be much higher and the country has already surpassed China with 7,321 deaths reported and 107,780 confirmed cases.
Messages were blared from loudspeakers in the Coroadinho favela in São Luís, where shops closed this morning in contrast to recent weeks, said teacher Christiane Mendes, 36. Across São Luís streets were empty, said Daniel Barros, 32, whose restaurant is only doing deliveries.
“I have already lost people close to me who got sick, who were intubated, who died. So I prefer it even though it costs me,” he said. “They should have done it sooner.”
Airbnb is laying off 25% of its workforce due to the pandemic, impacting nearly 1,900 employees of the home rental startup, Reuters reports.
Citing anonymous sources, it reports that the employees will receive a four-month pay package, accelerated equity vesting and health insurance for a year. The company is expected to update employees on Tuesday.
In March, Airbnb suspended all its marketing activities to save $800m (£643m) in 2020 and told workers that its founders will take no salary for the next six months, while top executives will take a 50% cut.
The Church of England is to allow clergy back into churches on a highly limited basis as part of a three-step plan to reopen its places of worship.
The C of E’s House of Bishops decided at a Zoom meeting on Tuesday that a phased lifting of restrictions would be implemented “in time and in parallel with the government’s approach”.
The first of the three steps is an immediate reopening of churches where local bishops agree, to allow clergy to stream services or to pray privately.
The second phase will be access to churches for some rites and celebrations, such as funerals, “when allowed by law, observing appropriate physical distancing and hygiene precautions”.
The final step will be the resumption of services with limited congregations “when government restrictions are eased to allow this”. Sarah Mullally, the bishop of London, said:
While it is clear there will be no imminent return to normality, the emphasis is now turning towards how and when aspects of social distancing can be eased, although we remain mindful of the potential risks of a second wave of the virus.
Nevertheless, it now makes sense for us to start to look ahead to the potential easing of restrictions so that our clergy and churches can be prepared.
The Queen has discussed efforts to combat the pandemic during a phone call with the Australian prime minister Scott Morrison.
🇳🇿The Queen had an audience with The Prime Minister of Australia, @ScottMorrisonMP , via telephone this morning. ☎️
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) May 5, 2020
Her Majesty asked about the welfare of Australians and how the country is combatting COVID-19.
Her Majesty sent her best wishes to all Australians. pic.twitter.com/mzgMBr1IbR
Earlier this year, it was reported that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would travel to Australia to visit coastal towns devastated by bushfires at Morrison’s request. But any plans are likely to remain on hold until the threat has passed.
The Queen and other senior royals sent messages of condolence to those affected by the fires after at least 20 people died and more than 1,400 homes were destroyed.
Morrison and his wife Jennifer visited the Queen at Buckingham Palace, in London, for a private audience in June 2019.
Prof Ferguson, a mathematician and epidemiologist, led the Imperial team which modelled the spread and impact of Covid-19 in a government-commissioned report.
The paper said merely slowing the spread of the virus, which had at that point been the aim, would have led to the NHS being overwhelmed by cases.
Around 250,000 people would have died in the UK in that scenario but the research said stricter measures would drastically reduce this.
In the report’s wake, the prime minister announced the lockdown on 23 March, ordering the public to stay at home as he shut most shops and gave police unprecedented enforcement powers.
Prof Ferguson said on 18 March that he had the fever and cough symptoms of Covid-19 and that there was a small risk he had infected others. “The more serious point is that it highlights the need for the response which has been enacted,” he said at the time.
Prof Ferguson’s is not the first high-profile resignation of the pandemic. Last month, Dr Catherine Calderwood quit as Scotland’s chief medical officer after making two trips to her second home.
Staats declined to comment when approached by the paper but has reportedly told friends she does not believe their actions to be hypocritical because she considers the two households to be one.
The Daily Telegraph reports that, on at least two occasions, Antonia Staats traveled across London to spend time with Prof Ferguson.
The first visit was on 30 March and coincided with Prof Ferguson saying lockdown measures were showing the first signs of success. A second visit on 8 April reportedly came despite Staats telling friends she “suspected her husband, an academic in his thirties, had symptoms”.
The paper reports that Staats and her husband live together with their two children and are understood to be in an open marriage.
Ireland’s highest number of weekly tests conducted to date found just 3.7% positive cases, a rate a senior health official has said shows the country is on a path towards suppressing the disease.
Ireland, which plans to reopen its economy from 18 May at a more gradual pace than many European neighbours, carried out almost 62,000 tests over the past week, up from the 41,000 a week earlier that had given a positivity rate of 12.9%.
Ireland reported 211 new cases on Tuesday to bring its total to 21,983, with 1,339 deaths. The number of new cases marked the lowest daily rise since 29 March, when the government introduced its most severe restrictions.
Prof Ferguson has told the Telegraph:
I accept I made an error of judgment and took the wrong course of action. I have therefore stepped back from my involvement in Sage.
I acted in the belief that I was immune, having tested positive for coronavirus, and completely isolated myself for almost two weeks after developing symptoms.
I deeply regret any undermining of the clear messages around the continued need for social distancing to control this devastating epidemic. The government guidance is unequivocal, and is there to protect all of us.
Top UK adviser resigns over lockdown breach
The epidemiologist credited with convincing the UK government to abandon thoughts of pursuing herd immunity in favour of physical distancing has resigned amid allegations he breached lockdown rules.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Prof Neil Ferguson stepped down from his government advisory position over claims a woman with whom he is in a romantic relationship, but who lives elsewhere, visited him at his home during the lockdown.
Updated
In the UK, the government has missed its testing target for a third consecutive day.
The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said 84,806 tests were carried out on Monday. Ministers promised the UK would be carrying out 100,000 tests per day by the end of last month.
It claimed to have met that target on two days after artificially inflating the figures by including tests that had been posted but not carried out. But testing numbers have quickly fallen away again.
Updated
Peru has now detected more than 50,000 cases, its president, Martín Vizcarra, has said.
Peru was one of the first Latin American countries to shut down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Yet, within 10 days, it saw a doubling of its confirmed caseload to become the region’s second worst-hit nation after Brazil.
Vizcarra said 1,444 people have died, while there have been 50,189 confirmed cases.
Updated
White House looking to wind down task force – report
The Trump administration is reportedly looking to wind down the coronavirus task force in the coming weeks, even as the rate of new infections continues to rise across most of the US.
The New York Times reports:
A top adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who has helped oversee the task force, Olivia Troye, has told senior officials involved in the task force to expect the group to wind down within weeks, a notice echoed by other top White House officials. While the task force met Tuesday at the White House, Monday’s meeting was cancelled, and a Saturday session, a staple of recent months, was never held ...
A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations, said the taskforce will be winding down as the White House moves toward Phase One of Mr Trump’s plan to ‘open up’ the country. The focus now will be on therapeutics, vaccine development and testing, the official said ...
A group led by Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has been functioning as something of a shadow task force. That group is likely to continue working; among other issues, Mr Kushner is said to be discussing a new role for someone to oversee development of therapeutic treatments.
The report comes as one projection warns the country’s daily death toll could reach 3,000 by 1 June if social distancing restrictions are relaxed too quickly.
The news also comes just hours after the Washington Post reported one volunteer for Kushner’s pandemic response effort was so alarmed by the team’s mismanagement that the person filed a complaint with the House oversight committee.
US death toll surpasses 70,000
At least 70,115 people are now known to have died in the USA, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That
represents more than a quarter of all pandemic-linked deaths reported across the world.
The US has also reported more cases of the virus than any other country, with 1,192,119 as of this afternoon.
New York remains the state that has suffered the most deaths, losing at least 24,999 residents to the virus. But it has seen a recent decrease in its number of cases and deaths, while other states are still on the rise.
The Dutch government has purchased a million blood tests that can show whether a person has been infected, the country’s health minister has said. Hugo de Jonge added:
With this, we can conduct research among the people to get insight into how the coronavirus has spread and how antibodies develop.
The tests will be carried out by the blood donation organisation Sanquin, which has used blood samples to estimate 3% of the Dutch population had so far had the virus.
As of Tuesday, there were 41,087 confirmed cases in the Netherlands, with 5,168 deaths, according to the country’s Institute for Health.
I’m signing off now and handing over to my colleague Kevin Rawlinson. Thanks so much to everyone who has got in touch, and as always thanks for reading our live blog.
Summary
Global confirmed cases exceed 3.6 million. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say at least 3,610,006 people have been infected since the outbreak began, while at least 252,346 are known to have died. The figures, which are based on official and media reports, are likely to significantly underestimate the true scale of the outbreak.
Italy records lowest increase in cases for two months. Deaths in Italy climb by 236 on Tuesday, against 195 the day before, while the daily tally of new infections stands at 1,075, against 1,221 on Monday. It is the lowest number of new cases for two months.
WHO urges investigation of possible early cases. The recent discovery that a man in France was possibly infected before the virus was even reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by Chinese authorities has prompted the body to investigate other suspicious cases.
The WHO said the findings were not surprising but gave a “whole new picture on everything”.
Major foreign travel to be limited this summer – Macron. It is unlikely French people will be able to undertake major foreign trips this summer and even trips within Europe may have to be limited to reduce the risk of a resurgence of the epidemic, said the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
“It is too soon to say whether we can take holidays. What I can say is that we will limit major international travel, even during the summer holidays,” he said.
Austria: reopening shops has not accelerated spread. The first loosening of lockdown measures in Austria three weeks ago, in which thousands of shops reopened, has not led to a new spike in infections, the country’s health minister said.
Austria acted early and cut the daily increase in infections to less than 1%. Buoyed by those numbers, it also became one of the first countries in Europe to loosen its lockdown.
Face masks should be worn on flights in future. The International Air Transport Association, which represents global airlines, says it is recommending the wearing of masks on flights, though normal seat allocation can be maintained. Adopting physical distancing on flights had been dismissed as unworkable by the Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary.
Virgin Atlantic to cut jobs and quit Gatwick. Virgin Atlantic plans to cut more than 3,000 jobs and shut its operations at Gatwick airport.
Trade unions and staff were being briefed on the redundancies on Tuesday at lunchtime, according to one official, with an external announcement expected imminently.
Majority of new Spain cases among medics. More than 70% of new cases detected in Spain over the past 24 hours are among medical staff, the health ministry says. With the epidemic receding after peaking more than a month ago, Spain has begun moves to ease out of the lockdown.
Israel and Netherlands studies claim progress in antibody trials. Separate studies in Israel and the Netherlands claim to have created antibodies that can block the infection, a potential future treatment touted as a game-changer until a vaccine becomes available.
No guarantee Tour de France will go ahead. There is no guarantee the Tour de France will go ahead this year, according to the French sports minister, Roxana Mărăcineanu. “Many people are begging me to keep the Tour even behind closed doors,” Mărăcineanu told France Television. “I hope it will take place but I am not sure. We do not know what the epidemic will be like after lockdown.”
Updated
Britain’s death toll from the coronavirus has topped 32,000, according to an updated official count released on Tuesday, pushing the country past Italy to become the second-most impacted after the United States.
The new toll, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and regional health bodies, has not yet been incorporated into the government’s daily figures, which records the current number of deaths as 29,427.
That is still higher than Italy, which on Tuesday said it has recorded 29,316 virus fatalities to date, but far short of the US where nearly 69,000 have died in the pandemic.
However, the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, urged against trying to make reliable international comparisons.
There are different ways of counting deaths... we now publish data that includes all deaths in all settings and not all countries do that.
Can you reliably know that all countries are measuring in the same way? And it also depends on how good, frankly, countries are in gathering their statistics.
Raab called the lives lost “a massive tragedy” and “something in this country, on this scale, in this way, that we’ve never seen before”.
Tuesday’s updated statistics, showing 32,313 total deaths by around April 24, means Britain has probably had the highest official death numbers in Europe for days.
The number of people who have died after contracting coronavirus in France increased by 330 to 25,531 on Tuesday, the sharpest rate of increase in six days, government data showed.
In a statement, the health ministry said the number of people in intensive care units fell to 3,430 from 3,696 on Monday, down for a 27th consecutive day.
The number of people in hospital with coronavirus also fell again to 25,775 from 25,548 also continuing a now uninterrupted three-week fall.
Delta Air Lines said it was putting a limit to seating capacity in its airplanes, as the US carrier looks to provide a safe flying experience to customers amid the coronavirus crisis.
The airline aims to keep a plane’s seating capacity at 50% in the first class and 60% for other ticket categories through 30 June, while blocking the sale of select aisle and window seats, the company said in a statement.
Since mid-April, Delta has blocked the sale of middle seats on all its flights.
Revenge porn is surging across Europe under coronavirus lockdowns, with a doubling of cases reported in Britain on Tuesday, while a student campaigner in France has spent hours getting naked photos removed from the internet.
Women’s rights activists said they have witnessed a rise in online posts of intimate images of women and girls, usually by abusive partners or ex-partners who are stuck at home in front of a screen, with their lives upended by the new coronavirus.
“During lockdown and as the world moves online ... women and girls are exposed to higher risks,” said Johanna Nelles, executive secretary of the Istanbul Convention, a European treaty to prevent violence against women.
“Domestic violence is on the rise and many perpetrators also use new technologies to assert their power over their victim,” she said, adding that the trend - as well as the fear, shame and anxiety felt by victims - was likely to outlast the pandemic.
Digital sex abuse has become a common feature of domestic abuse, as intimate partners threaten to share sexually explicit images without victims’ consent, human rights groups say, although many countries do not officially collect such data.
Britain’s state-funded Revenge Porn Helpline said on Tuesday it opened some 250 cases in April - a record number and double that of the previous April, despite only offering an email service during a nationwide lockdown that began on 23 March.
The Vienna Museum said an appeal to submit photos of everyday objects to document the coronavirus pandemic for future generations had so far drawn hundreds of submissions.
Some 1,800 photos of masks, signs and other objects have been received since the museum launched its appeal on 25 March, spokeswoman Konstanze Schaefer said.
“We want to see how we tell our children, or our children’s children, what happened in Vienna because of course this is a big moment for all of us,” Schaefer told AFP.
“We must call for this now... A lot of the projects that came into existence in the beginning (of the crisis), such as neighbourhood aid initiatives, don’t exist anymore,” she said.
Some 200 photos of submissions received have been put up on the museum’s website.
They include a photo of a discarded blue rubber glove, a police signboard that urges one metre (three feet) social distancing and a mobile phone screen showing a call with the coronavirus hotline number of more than one hour and 28 minutes.
The museum will continue to accept submissions “as long as corona exists”, Schaefer said.
Those objects eventually chosen to become part of the collection will be picked up from their owners and put into storage - but any exhibition could be years from now, to allow time to step back from the crisis, according to Schaefer.
Tajikistan’s health minister was sacked on Tuesday, as coronavirus cases surged in the former Soviet republic.
Nasim Olimzoda lost his job after the authorities spent weeks playing down the threat the country faced from coronavirus.
Tajikistan reported its first coronavirus cases in late April, one of the last countries in the world to confirm it had been affected by the pandemic.
President Emomali Rakhmon replaced Olimzoda with a career doctor, a statement from his office said on Tuesday.
The statement did not specify why Olimzoda had been dismissed, only saying he would be transferred to another position.
Tajikistan announced its first 15 cases in a single day on April 30. Since then, infections have rapidly grown, reaching 293 cases and five deaths as of Tuesday evening.
Eurostar is to offer more generous cancellation terms and has promised cash refunds after facing a backlash from customers furious at its previous refunds stance.
With French borders still closed to all tourist traffic, Eurostar has been forced to cancel all but two trains a day out of London, leaving thousands of passengers with unusable tickets.
Easter trips to Disneyland in Paris and a host of other cities were all cancelled.
Like airlines, Eurostar has pushed customers into accepting replacement vouchers, which it said had to be used to make a booking by the end of September – a date regarded as far too soon for many of its customers, particularly older travellers.
But after facing a growing backlash from customers – some of whom said they would never use the service again – Eurostar is now allowing up to a year to rebook trips, which can start six or nine months after that. It has also confirmed it will refund tickets for those whose trains were cancelled.
Guardian Money has been inundated by unhappy Eurostar passengers who claimed they were denied the refunds, and that the policy terms made the vouchers all but unusable.
Norwegian Cruise Line, the world’s third-largest cruise operator, has warned there is “substantial doubt” that it will be able to stay in business.
The company, which is listed on the New York stock market, said: “Covid-19 has had, and is expected to continue to have, a significant impact on our financial condition and operations, which adversely affects our ability to obtain acceptable financing.”
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Norwegian said the difficulties it had experienced arranging emergency funding had “raised substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, as the company does not have sufficient liquidity to meet its obligations over the next 12 months”.
Shares in Norwegian, which operates cruises in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the Bahamas, slumped 19% to $11.60 (£9.30) in early trading in New York on Tuesday. The shares were changing hands for $60 each in January.
Cruising has been among the worst-hit of all industries. All operations have been suspended since mid-March and analysts have warned it is difficult to imagine how cruise ships could operate under socially distant conditions.
Some cruise companies have refused to agree to rules that would allow tens of thousands of stranded crew back to land, citing concerns about cost and potential legal consequences, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
My colleagues Patrick Greenfield and Erin McCormick report the largest trade association for the cruise industry has called the CDC’s requirements for disembarkation “impractical”.
The standoff comes amid a deteriorating situation on many ships around the world and a rising death toll of crew members.
More than 100,000 crew workers are still trapped on cruise ships globally, at least 50 of which have Covid-19 infections.
This number includes around 80,000 crew members on 120 ships that are in international waters near the US waiting to disembark.
Some major cruise operators have blamed the CDC for not allowing trapped crew to leave ships. But the health agency said it “stand[s] ready to approve these requests with same-day turnaround in most cases”, and has urged staff to contact cruise liners about disembarkation.
The CDC confirmed it had detected hundreds of Covid-19 and Covid-like illness cases in crew since March in US waters, resulting in the deaths of at least six crew.
Barack and Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, LeBron James and K-Pop band BTS are among dozens of celebrities and world leaders who will salute the class of 2020 in virtual US graduation ceremonies replacing the traditional end of high school and college.
The Obamas will headline two separate graduation events announced on Tuesday.
In a one-hour multimedia event called “Graduate Together,” to be broadcast on 16 May across multiple TV networks, Barack Obama will deliver a message to high school seniors and reflect on the coronavirus pandemic.
In a separate YouTube event called “Dear Class of 2020,” to be hosted by Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher initiative and streamed on 6 June, the former president will join with the likes of Pakistani Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai, BTS and former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in celebrating graduates across the United States.
Others taking part in the two events include US women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe, the Jonas Brothers, musician Bad Bunny, Alicia Keys and Alphabet and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai.
Schools and colleges shut down across the United States in mid-March because of the coronavirus epidemic, robbing students of milestone events and speeches in May and June marking the end of their formal education.
Sicily’s regional government is offering to subsidise holidays on the island for both domestic and international visitors in an effort to kickstart tourism after the coronavirus pandemic.
News of the scheme came days before a statement from the Italian government that it expects borders to be open to tourists this summer.
A financial pot of €75m of regional government money has been set aside to boost tourism following huge financial losses after the lockdown came into effect across Italy on 10 March.
Current plans include subsidising visitors’ accommodation costs, offering one night of a three-night trip for free, or two nights of a six-day trip, as well as vouchers for cultural and heritage activities.
The plans were detailed in an interview with Sicily’s tourism director, Manlio Messina, on Italian news show Mattino Cinque. There have been reports that the funding may also be used towards paying for up to half of the cost of flights, but this has not yet been confirmed.
Once the lockdown restrictions have been successfully eased further (without a rise in coronavirus cases), more information on how to take advantage of the offers will be posted on the Sicilian tourist board website.
Meanwhile, quashing what he called “fake news” reports that Italy may be closed to holidaymakers for the rest of 2020, Dario Franceschini, Italy’s culture and tourism minister, told newspaper Il Messaggero:
I have never talked or ever thought of closing Italian borders to tourists for 2020.
I am working towards the complete opposite, and proposed yesterday at a meeting of EU tourism minsters as uniform approach to managing infection risks. We are also starting bilateral talks with other countries that send a lot of tourists to Italy.
The British government is looking at the option of restarting sports leagues behind closed doors, the foreign minister, Dominic Raab, said on Tuesday.
Asked during a news conference about the possibility of sports matches restarting, Raab said it would “lift the spirits of the nation”.
“(The sports minister) has also been working on a plan to get sports played behind closed doors ... that is something under active consideration,” he said, adding that it would only happen it could be done “safely and sustainably
Children are accessing the internet at a younger age, spending longer online and are at greater risk of cyber bullying as the Covid-19 pandemic keeps them at home, a UN agency has said.
The Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimated that 1.5 billion children are out of school due to lockdown measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus, forcing them to go online for their schooling but also their social lives and hobbies.
“Many children are coming online earlier than their parents had intended, at much earlier ages, and without the necessary skills to protect themselves whether it is from online harassment or cyber bullying,” Doreen Bogdan-Martin, an ITU director, said.
“The other thing is the length [of time] children are spending online whether simply for schooling or for entertainment, gaming, socialising... after their learning is completed,” she added.
The ITU, which develops standards and guidelines, is trying to accelerate the launch of recommendations for child protection online and release them over the next fortnight, Bogdan-Martin added.
Doctors and psychologists have already warned about the impact of the outbreak and said the anxiety-inducing spread of the virus may be traumatic for children.
The ITU noted, however, that the internet was a “vital digital lifeline”, and the pandemic had highlighted the so-called “digital divide” between those with and without internet access.
A lack of internet access can be devastating for children’s education, Bogdan-Martin said, adding the ITU was working with the UN children’s fund to communicate via 2G technology.
“If there’s one thing that the unprecedented events of the last few months have dramatically illustrated it is the vital and essential importance of connectivity,” she said.
A total of 3.6 billion people do not have access to the internet, the agency estimates, and many of those that do are paying too much or have poor connections.
Updated
Britain’s Covid-19 official death toll has risen by 693 to 29,427, according to figures announced by the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab.
Earlier today, the Office for National Statistics said 29,648 deaths were registered in England and Wales with Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificates by 2 May .
With the addition of deaths in Scotland and Northern Ireland, this takes the UK’s death toll to 32,313, according to calculations by Reuters.
This means the UK has now passed Italy’s official death toll of 29,029 – until now Europe’s worst-hit country.
However, official figures do not account for all deaths - statistics bureau ISTAT said yesterday that Italy’s death toll was likely to be much higher.
Follow the latest from the British government’s daily press conference in our UK live blog.
Updated
The number of people who have died from Covid-19 in Turkey has risen by 59 in the last 24 hours to 3,520, health ministry data showed on Tuesday, as a slowdown in deaths and ICU patients continued.
The overall number of cases rose by 1,832 to 129,491, the data showed, the highest total outside western Europe, the United States and Russia.
A total of 73,285 Covid-19 patients in the country have so far recovered.
The number of tests conducted in Turkey in the past 24 hours stood at 33,283, increasing the total number of tests during the outbreak to more than 1.2m.
Updated
Italy records lowest number of new cases for two months
Deaths from the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 236 on Tuesday, against 195 the day before, while the daily tally of new infections came in at 1,075 against 1,221 on Monday.
It was the lowest number of new cases for two months.
The total death toll now stands at 29,315, the Civil Protection Agency said, one of the highest in the world. The number of confirmed cases in the country totals 213,013.
Italy’s true death toll from the disease is probably much higher than is reported by the Civil Protection Agency in its daily bulletins, national statistics agency Istat said in an analysis of nationwide mortalities released on Monday.
In further sport news, Eibar have become the first La Liga side to publicly express concerns about the planned return to training, and have called for “responsibility” from league officials.
Clubs in Spain’s top two division are due to start individual training this week after testing for Covid-19, with matches behind closed doors planned for June. But in a strongly worded joint statement, the Basque club have raised doubts about the plan.
In a statement given to radio station Cadena Ser, the players said:
We are worried about starting an activity in which we will not be able to complete the first recommendation of all experts which is physical distance.
It worries us that by doing what we like most, we could get infected and infect our family and friends and even contribute to a new wave of the pandemic – with the terrible consequences that would have for the whole population.
Updated
No guarantee Tour de France will go ahead
There is no guarantee that the Tour de France will go ahead this year, the French sports minister Roxana Mărăcineanu said on Tuesday.
The Tour, cycling’s biggest event of the year, has been rescheduled from 29 August to 20 September. With crowd-drawing events being banned in France until the end of August, special arrangements might have to be made for the start of the Tour in Nice, the sports ministry said last month.
“Many people are begging me to keep the Tour even behind closed doors,” Mărăcineanu told France Television. “I hope it will take place but I am not sure. We do not know what the epidemic will be like after lockdown.”
France’s lockdown, in place since 17 March, will be partially lifted on Monday, although the seasons of several sports championships, including football’s Ligue 1 and rugby’s Top 14, have been abandoned.
Mărăcineanu added that the Tour and tennis’s rescheduled French Open, expected to start on 20 September, could be held behind closed doors should the ban on popular events be extended.
“Just like the Tour de France, the French Open is the quintessence of professional sports with fans. The Roland Garros stadiums have many seats to fill, having it be played behind closed doors would be the worst solution but we would do it if the survival of those sports was at stake,” she said.
Updated
Pakistan has raised concerns with the United Arab Emirates that many citizens were returning home from the Gulf Arab state infected with Covid-19 and that crowded living conditions in the UAE may be helping to spread the virus, the foreign ministry said.
“Both (governments) are working together to find (an) optimal solution to this shared concern,” ministry spokeswoman Aisha Farooqi told Reuters.
A UAE foreign ministry official later said the government “completely rejects this version of events”.
“Everyone on UAE repatriation flights has been tested before departure, and those found to be infected were not allowed to travel,” assistant undersecretary for consular affairs, Khalid al-Mazrouei, told Reuters.
The official did not address Islamabad’s concerns about living conditions.
The UAE is home to around 1.5 million Pakistanis, many of whom are low-wage workers living in crowded housing and are now out of work and stranded due to the coronavirus crisis.
Repatriation flights began last month after tens of thousands of Pakistanis in the UAE asked their government to be flown home.
The UAE had also warned it could review labour ties with countries refusing to take back its nationals.
Pakistan is facing the challenge of quarantining thousands of overseas workers wanting to return home while it deals with its own fast-growing number of cases, as infections reached more than 21,000 with over 500 deaths.
Gulf states have increased testing after recording a growing number of cases among low-income migrants living in overcrowded housing.
The UAE has reported 15,192 infections and 146 deaths. Abu Dhabi’s government media office on Monday tweeted that 335,000 people living and working in the industrial Mussafah area would be tested for Covid-19 over the next two weeks.
Updated
Tens of thousands of migrants are trapped in dangerous conditions at frontiers, mines, ports and in transit camps across Africa after states shut their borders in an attempt to stem the spread of Covid-19.
Some have been abandoned by smugglers unable to take them further on their journeys to Europe or elsewhere. Others were returning home or moving across the continent in search of work when frontiers were closed in March.
They include large numbers of Chadian students stranded in Cameroon, about 1,800 Nigerien workers stuck in remote goldmining areas in Burkina Faso, and more than 1,000 migrants from Mali and Senegal trapped in Mauritania.
In east Africa, about 2,300 migrants are stranded in Djibouti after being abandoned by traffickers. Most were hoping to cross the Red Sea to Yemen and then reach Saudi Arabia and the Arabian peninsula, mainly in search of work.
The migrants are among the marginalised communities most vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many are women and children.
Africa has more than 46,000 reported cases of the disease and 1,800 deaths. However, the numbers are believed to be a fraction of the real toll so far, highlighting a recent warning from the World Health Organization that the continent of 1.3 billion people could become the next centre of the global outbreak.
Updated
Paris Opera is looking at losses of €40m ($43m) this year, its director has warned, and may not reopen until 2021.
Europe’s biggest opera and ballet company was hit by a catastrophic strike over pensions reform earlier this year before the coronavirus brought the curtain down again in March.
Director Stephane Lissner told French public radio that if social distancing rules in France were not lifted before September, it might make more sense for its two opera houses to stay closed for building work which had been planned for later in 2021.
France’s social distancing guidelines for theatres insist on audience members being masked and seated two metres (6.5 feet) apart - but that is “impractical”, said Lissner.
“It is just not workable,” he said of the recommendations, which require two empty seats around each audience member.
“How are you going to get 2,700 into the Bastille Opera while respecting distancing?” he told France Inter.
“What are we going to do for the toilets, and the orchestra pit?” Lissener added, with the presence of wind instruments causing particular concern for the contagious diseases expert who drew up the guidelines.
“It is impossible. Keeping a safe distance on stage for our chorus and singers” would mean having to completely rethink productions, he said.
Updated
The coronavirus map of Europe makes one thing clear: the richer nations of western Europe have suffered more from the virus than countries in the eastern half of the EU, almost without exceptions, my colleagues Shaun Walker and Helena Smith report.
Comparing figures from different countries can be fraught with difficulty, and many factors can potentially skew the numbers. But the comparison between western Europe on the one hand, and central and eastern Europe on the other, shows a difference in coronavirus rates that is too stark to ignore.
Even the worst-hit central and eastern European countries have infection and death rates per million inhabitants much lower than western European nations, and in some the statistics are truly remarkable: Slovakia has recorded just 1,413 confirmed cases and 25 deaths.
Neighbouring Austria, widely regarded as having tackled the challenge of the virus successfully, nevertheless has more than 10 times the number of infections and 20 times the deaths as Slovakia, with a population less than twice the size.
Numerous contributing causes have been mooted for the discrepancy in various individual countries: lower life expectancy meaning fewer vulnerable elderly people still alive, lower population density, fewer flights to China, lower testing rates or even just sheer luck.
The obligatory wearing of masks outdoors, now common to much of Europe, was implemented very early on by the Czech Republic and Slovakia and may also have helped stop the spread.
The most important reason, however, seems to be the early lockdown implemented by almost all countries in the region.
Updated
Israel and Netherlands studies claim progress in antibody trials
Separate studies in Israel and the Netherlands claim to have created antibodies that can block the coronavirus infection, a potential future treatment touted as a game-changer until a vaccine becomes available.
A Dutch-led team of scientists said they had managed to halt infection in a lab setting. At the same time, the Israeli defence minister announced a state-run research centre had developed an antibody that he claimed could “neutralise [the coronavirus] inside carriers’ bodies”. It is unclear if the antibody has been tested in people, however.
Both efforts, which are in their initial stages, hope to eventually treat or prevent the development of Covid-19 and stall the spread of the pandemic.
“Such a neutralising antibody has potential to alter the course of infection in the infected host, support virus clearance or protect an uninfected individual that is exposed to the virus,” said Berend-Jan Bosch from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
The research, published in the Nature Communications journal on Monday, looked at antibodies developed to combat the 2002-04 Sars outbreak, also caused by a coronavirus. It said it identified one antibody that was also effective against the current virus, officially called Sars-CoV-2.
Scientists at Utrecht University, Erasmus Medical Center and the global biopharmaceutical company Harbour BioMed (HBM), described it as “an initial step towards developing a fully human antibody to treat or prevent” Covid-19.
“This is groundbreaking research,” said Jingsong Wang, the CEO of HBM. But he added: “Much more work is needed to assess whether this antibody can protect or reduce the severity of disease in humans.”
The study was welcomed with cautious optimism by several experts.
Jane Osbourn, the chair of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) who received an OBE last year for her antibody research, said the study “could be a valuable part of the future arsenal of options for development”.
Updated
The US president, Donald Trump, will travel far beyond the Washington area for the first time in weeks to visit Arizona, one of dozens of US states partially lifting its shutdown of businesses.
Trump is going to the Republican-led southwestern state a day after a new projection that Covid-19 deaths in the United States could reach about 135,000 by early August as social-distancing measures are relaxed, double the model’s previous forecast.
Covid-19 is known to have infected almost 1.2 million people in the United States, including nearly 69,000 who have died, according to a Reuters tally. The US death toll is the highest in the world.
Trump will visit a Honeywell International aerospace facility in Phoenix that is making protective face masks. Trump, who has declined to wear a mask despite White House guidelines urging people to do so, suggested he could wear one this time.
Trump told reporters that all those on the trip had been tested in the last hour. “If it’s a masked facility, I will,” he said.
The vice-president, Mike Pence, was criticised for not wearing a face mask when visiting patients at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic last month, and he apologised for it during a television interview on Sunday.
You can follow all the latest developments from the US in more detail on our US live blog headed by my colleague Joan Greve.
Updated
Wizz Air has said it will restart holiday flights from Luton airport to Portugal in mid-June and to Greece in July in the hope that Covid-19 travel restrictions will be lifted, my colleagues Julia Kollewe and Miles Brignall report.
Announcing five new routes, the low-cost airline said from 16 June flights would depart to Faro in Portugal, with prices starting at £25.99, and from the start of July to Corfu, Heraklion, Rhodes and Zakynthos in Greece.
Wizz Air has introduced new rules, including compulsory face masks for passengers and staff as well as gloves for crew, to make people feel more confident about flying.
It will also give sanitising wipes to travellers and no longer provide magazines. The airline says it encourages travellers to observe physical distancing at the airport, but it will fill middle seats on aircraft if there is enough demand.
Alexandre de Juniac, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, said during the group’s weekly briefing there was no evidence that leaving the middle seat empty would improve passenger safety.
Owain Jones, the managing director of Wizz Air UK, said: “Although travel is currently restricted by government regulations, we are planning for the easing of restrictions as the situation improves and our customers are able to start travelling again.”
Updated
The Red Cross has launched what it said was the first global network of social media influencers to battle misinformation about the coronavirus and spread lifesaving content about the pandemic.
Experts have been warning for months that the pandemic has been cloaked in a massive “infodemic” - a deluge of information, including widespread false claims, which can pose a serious threat to public health.
The World Health Organization website lists a catalogue of dangerous “myths” circulating about the virus, including suggestions that hot peppers or excessive exposure to the sun can prevent or cure Covid-19.
“Getting the right information out there when an emergency strikes is as important as healthcare,” Nicola Jones, media manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said in a statement.
In a bid to reach young people with accurate and vital information, IFRC said it had joined forces with marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy to sign up more than two dozen prominent individuals with large social media followings.
The influencers who have signed up so far have a joint reach of nearly two million followers across four countries, IFRC said, adding that it expected the list of participants, and followers reached, to swell significantly over coming days and weeks.
Lebanon extended its coronavirus lockdown by two weeks on Tuesday, with the prime minister warning that failure to comply with a gradual easing of curbs risked a second wave of infections.
Lebanon has recorded 741 cases of Covid-19 and 25 deaths. The government started to ease some restrictions this week, allowing restaurants to open but at only 30% of capacity.
In an apparent reference to low rates of infection, the prime minister, Hassan Diab, said the general assessment was “excellent”.
But he also told a meeting of the country’s supreme defence council that “citizens did not comply with the restrictions and measures that are being gradually reduced”.
This “could reflect negatively on the spread of the virus and there is a fear of a second wave which could be much harder than the first”, he said, according to a statement issued after the meeting.
The government formally extended the shutdown until 24 May at a cabinet meeting later on Tuesday.
Economic activity would still be allowed to resume gradually under a previously defined time frame. The security forces and army would be asked to act strictly to prevent violations.
President Donald Trump has said the United States will release its report detailing the origins of Covid-19 over time, but gave not other details or timeline.
“We will be reporting very definitively over a period of time,” the Republican president told reporters at the White House.
Trump, who initially praised China over its response to the outbreak but has since criticised Beijing harshly over the virus, also said that he has not spoken to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
In 1847 the Choctaw Nation, a native American tribe, made a remarkable gesture: despite impoverishment and discrimination its members donated $170 to victims of the Irish famine.
The tribe had suffered grievously during its Trail of Tears, a forced relocation to Oklahoma, and empathised with Irish people enduring misery and starvation.
The generosity left a lasting mark on Ireland, which remembers it through art and commemorations.
Now Irish people have found another way to repay the kindness by donating to a fund for Navajo and Hopi communities hit by coronavirus.
“Several of our recent donations for our GoFundMe campaign have been inspired by the Great Hunger Famine in Ireland,” wrote Vanessa Tulley, one of the fund organisers.
“173 years later to today, the favour is returned through generous donations from the Irish people to the Navajo Nation during our time of crisis. Thank you, Ireland, for showing solidarity and being here for us.”
The campaign, which is to fund food, water and medical supplies for vulnerable families, has reached $1.79m of its $2m goal.
The mayor of a town in central Ukraine has unilaterally decided to ease lockdown restrictions, causing a row with president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government as it seeks to avoid a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Cherkasy mayor Anatoliy Bondarenko decided to open shops, hairdressers and restaurants on 30 April after appeals from businesses.
The move comes amid signs of growing impatience in Ukraine against lockdown measures imposed in March, which the authorities say have kept infection rates lower than much of western Europe.
The government announced a partial lifting of restrictions from 11 May but has cajoled citizens and local authorities not to let their guard down in the meantime.
Police have recorded more than 10,000 violations of lockdown rules, and the health minister has spoken out against people going to parks or holding rallies. Hundreds of businessmen protested against the lockdown in Kiev last week.
Ukraine has 12,697 coronavirus cases, including 316 deaths.
Bondarenko’s decision prompted police to launch criminal proceedings against the Cherkasy authorities and summon the mayor for questioning.
Zelenskiy accused Bondarenko of trying to boost his popularity at the expense of citizens’ lives.
Bondarenko responded in a video message, invoking the spirit of Cossack resistance for which the area was once known.
“Cherkasy will resist. Cherkasy is a free Cossack city,” he said.
In a separate post, he said that although Cherkasy businesses could reopen, citizens should behave responsibly and observe social distancing rules.
Majority of new Spain virus cases among medics
More than 70% of new virus cases detected in Spain over the past 24 hours have been among medical staff, the health ministry said.
With the epidemic well in remission after peaking over a month ago, Spain has begun moves to ease out of the lockdown following weeks in which the rate of deaths and new infections has steadily declined.
These latest figures confirm a trend in recent weeks that showed medical staff accounting for most new infections.
Since the epidemic began, Spain has counted more than 250,000 infections, including those people shown to have had the virus through antibody tests.
Of that figure, 18% of cases – or 43,956 – have involved health staff, in what Fernando Simon, who heads the ministry’s emergencies department, said was a “significant occurrence”.
In two large hospitals in Madrid and Catalonia, the regions worst-hit by the crisis, there had been an 11% infection rate among staff, he said.
He said infections among healthcare workers had been “less serious” than cases in the general population, which he attributed to the fact they were generally much younger.
Among healthcare workers, the mortality rate was 0.1% compared with 7.8% in the general population. Far fewer people had to be hospitalised or treated in intensive care, he said – also attributing it to the age difference.
Updated
Donald Trump is effectively abandoning a public health strategy for the coronavirus pandemic and showing “clear willingness to trade lives for the Dow Jones”, critics say.
A leaked internal White House report predicts the daily death toll from the virus will reach about 3,000 on 1 June, almost double the current tally of about 1,750, the New York Times revealed on Monday.
Yet at the same time, Trump has scrapped daily coronavirus taskforce briefings and marginalised his medical experts in favour of economic officials flooding the airwaves to urge states to reopen for business – even amid rising infection rates.
Rick Wilson, a former Republican strategist, said:
They’ve decided in a very utilitarian kind of way that the political damage from a collapsed economy is greater than the political damage from losing as many as 90,000 more Americans just in June.
We’re witnessing the full-scale application of a kind of grisly realpolitik that is a clear willingness to trade lives for the Dow Jones.
In a sign of the shift, the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie told CNN that increased deaths could be worth it if the economy reopens.
“Of course, everybody wants to save every life they can – but the question is, towards what end, ultimately?” said Christie, a Republican who led Donald Trump’s presidential transition team in 2016. He added: “Are there ways that we can … thread the middle here to allow that there are going to be deaths, and there are going to be deaths no matter what?”
Updated
A possible meeting between Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and US president Donald Trump in the coming weeks would broach the reopening of key sectors of the economy from the coronavirus lockdown such as carmaking and tourism, the Mexican president said.
“The meeting with President Trump would have that purpose,” Lopez Obrador told reporters at a regular government news conference.
Lopez Obrador said last month he had proposed a meeting with Trump in June or July.
The US treasury department will begin distributing $4.8bn in pandemic relief funds to Native American tribal governments in all US states, the treasury and interior departments said in a joint statement.
Payments would begin Tuesday, based on population data from US Census figures, the statement said, while payments based on employment and expenditure data will be made at a later date.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s government has warned of a “large-scale” spread of Covid-19 after around 100 inmates of a military prison tested positive for the virus.
“Contamination at the prisons could be a vector of large-scale propagation in our society, especially if it involves the Makala prison because of its overcrowding,” minutes of a cabinet meeting said.
With the emergence of Covid-19 cases at the Ndolo military prison north of Kinshasa – where cases doubled to nearly 100 in two days – “the risk of a lightning-fast spread … cannot be ruled out,” said the minutes obtained by AFP.
According to the latest bulletin issued on Tuesday by a health ministry team tackling the pandemic, 101 cases have now been discovered at Ndolo, of which 92 were described as “benign or light”.
Of the other nine, three patients have been hospitalised, the statement said.
So far, no cases of Covid-19 have turned up at Makala, Kinshasa’s largest prison, which houses 8,484 detainees for a capacity estimated at 1,500.
The first case of the coronavirus infection in the central African country was registered on 10 March. Since then, 705 cases have been confirmed, with 34 deaths.
Infections arriving in the country from abroad have been halted, the bulletin said, adding: “The contaminations seen (since) have been local. The exponential increase that was so feared has not happened.”
Updated
The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, will consider evidence provided by scientists at a review on Thursday before taking any decision on the next steps against the coronavirus outbreak, his spokesman said.
Asked whether Johnson would make a statement unveiling measures covering the next phase of Britain’s plan against Covid-19 on Sunday, the spokesman said:
I think what matters is that we get this right, that we fully consider all the evidence and ensure that we can communicate the next steps whatever they may be in a very clear way to the public.
We’re looking at a range of possible easements to social distancing measures and we’re also looking if in some areas they need to be toughened. Once we have the scientific evidence and we’ve completed the review process, we will be able to set out what those are.
Britain is expected to set out guidelines to allow some businesses to return to work, through measures including rules to keep workers distanced from each other and staggering work times, and possibly easing rules on social gatherings.
“We are continuing working with the unions on developing sensible guidance for businesses that will give UK workers the utmost confidence that they can return to work safely,” he added.
Asked whether Britain could allow small social gatherings to take place outside, the spokesman said scientific advice suggesting that there is less likelihood of transmission outdoors would be considered in the government’s review.
More on the announcement from Virgin Atlantic that it is cutting 3,000 jobs and closing its Gatwick airport operations.
Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive, Shai Weiss, said in a statement:
We have weathered many storms since our first flight 36 years ago, but none has been as devastating as Covid-19 … now is the time for further action to reduce our costs, preserve cash and to protect as many jobs as possible.
It is crucial that we return to profitability in 2021. This will mean taking steps to reshape and resize Virgin Atlantic in line with demand.
British Airways said last week it could cut as many as 12,000 jobs, over a quarter of its total, as a result of the impact of the coronavirus, with many countries advising against or restricting travel in a bid to halt its spread.
Those restrictions have resulted in a collapse in airline traffic. On Tuesday, Ireland’s Ryanair posted a 99.6% fall in passenger numbers in April, while smaller low-cost carrier Wizz Air said numbers plunged 97.6%.
Virgin Atlantic said it continued to explore all available options to get extra funding through talks with the government and other stakeholders about possible support for the airline.
The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) said it was a terrible blow for the industry, and urged the government to stop “prevaricating” and help the aviation sector.
“Government should call a moratorium on job losses in aviation and lead a planned recovery,” the BALPA general secretary, Brian Strutton, said.
Virgin Atlantic is based in Britain and is 51% owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin group and 49% owned by US airline Delta.
Among other steps announced on Tuesday, it said it would move its flying programme at London Gatwick to the city’s bigger Heathrow airport, but intended to keep its slots at Gatwick to allow it to return if customer demand rebounded.
British Airways has also suspended operations at Gatwick and has told pilots there is no certainty over when those services might return.
Virgin Atlantic also said it would no longer use all its seven Boeing 747-400s, and that four Airbus A330-200s would be retired in early 2022 as planned.
Follow the latest developments on our business live blog:
Updated
Yemen’s Houthi movement has confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the rebel-held capital Sana’a.
A Somali national was found dead in a hotel in Sana’a on Sunday, a statement from the health authority carried by rebel al-Masirah television on Tuesday said.
Testing on the body showed he died from the virus. All people that had interacted with him have been isolated, according to al-Masirah.
The Houthis control most of Yemen’s major cities, including areas already in the grips of malnutrition and cholera crises. Thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa reach Yemen by boat every year in the hopes of travelling onward to find work in Saudi Arabia, but end up stuck in the war-torn country.
The World Health Organization warned last week that the virus is actively circulating in Yemen and that it’s preparing for the possibility that half the 30-million-strong population will get infected.
Testing facilities are almost non-existent and five years of war have decimated the medical sector.
Yemen has reported only 22 confirmed cases of the virus, including three fatalities. Most have been recorded in the southern city of Aden, where a separatist movement has recently renewed a declaration of independence, further complicating efforts to combat the pandemic.
Yemen’s coronavirus response is also facing difficulties because of aid cuts: unless a funding crisis is fixed, half of the UN’s humanitarian programmes in the country will be forced to reduce or close, putting around one million Yemenis at renewed risk of hunger and losing their shelter and access to medicine.
Updated
India has embarked on a “massive” operation calling up passenger jets and naval ships to bring back some of the hundreds of thousands of nationals stuck abroad due to coronavirus restrictions, the government said.
India banned all incoming international flights in late March as it imposed one of the world’s strictest virus lockdowns, leaving vast numbers of workers and students stranded.
A defence spokesman told AFP on Tuesday that two ships were steaming towards the Maldives and another to the United Arab Emirates - home to a 3.3-million-strong Indian community, who make up around 30% of the Gulf state’s population.
A government statement said repatriation flights would start bringing nationals home from Thursday, and that Indian embassies and high commissions were preparing lists of “distressed Indian citizens”.
But to the annoyance of some of those abroad, the evacuees will have to pay for their passage, the statement said, and spend 14 days in quarantine on arrival.
“Covid test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols,” it added.
Updated
Britain and the United States warned on Tuesday that government-backed hackers are attempting to break into healthcare and research institutions involved in the global response to the new coronavirus outbreak.
In a joint statement, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the hackers “are actively targeting organisations involved in both national and international Covid-19 responses”.
The attacks were likely parts of efforts by the hackers to “obtain intelligence on national and international healthcare policy or acquire sensitive data on Covid-19 related research”, the agencies said.
Updated
The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped a quarter of a million on Tuesday, with the US government predicting a further surge in fatalities as an international vaccine drive garnered $8bn in pledges.
The dire forecast from the United States came as much of the Western world emerged from weeks of lockdown, with hopes that the disease may have peaked in Europe after nearly two months of confinement.
Financial markets saw a light at the end of a tunnel as businesses in Europe and the United States tentatively reopened, and stocks and oil prices rallied Tuesday.
But the global progress did little to cool a war of words between the US and China - fuelled by American claims the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory, a theory the World Health Organization (WHO) labelled “speculative.”
Hello everyone. I am taking the live feed while Jessica takes a lunch break. Please keep in touch and share any insights or news tips with me. Various ways to contact me are below.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Bulgaria has announced that schools will remain shut until September in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, with all teaching online until then.
“We reached a solid consensus with parents, teachers and health officials that the school year should finish online,” education minister Krasimir Valchev told journalists on Tuesday.
The only exceptions to the school closures will be for those sitting important exams in the 7th and 12th grades, Valchev added.
No more than 10 students will sit in any exam room, strictly observing distancing and disinfection rules, said the minister.
While the new school year is scheduled to begin in mid-September as usual, kindergartens will remain shut indefinitely.
On 6 March, even before Covid-19 arrived in Bulgaria, a flu epidemic prompted the authorities to close down classes for the country’s 708,000 primary and secondary school students.
They stayed closed as the country acted to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Teachers have switched to teaching online, while social workers have delivered printed school materials to children, especially those in Roma neighbourhoods, who have no access to computers. Lessons have also been broadcast on public television.
Bulgaria, a country of just under seven million people has so far registered just 1,689 coronavirus cases and 78 deaths.
Virgin Atlantic to cut 3,000 jobs and stop using Gatwick
Virgin Atlantic is to cut just over 3,000 jobs, or up to a third of its workforce, and stop using Gatwick airport, as part of its battle to survive, Sky News reports.
Trade unions and staff were being briefed on the redundancies on Tuesday lunchtime, according to one official, with an external announcement expected imminently.
A total of 3,150 jobs are at risk at the airline, majority-owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.
Updated
Face masks should be worn on flights in future - IATA
The body representing global airlines says that it is recommending the wearing of masks on flights to prevent the spread of coronavirus when flying restarts.
David Powell, medical adviser to the International Air Transport Association, told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday that while normal seat allocation can be maintained, it was recommending the mandatory wearing of masks or face coverings onboard.
Updated
Yemen’s Houthi-controlled government has recorded a first confirmed case of Covid-19 in the capital Sanaa, the group’s al-Masirah TV reported on Tuesday citing the health minister.
Masirah added the infection was recorded in a Somali national.
Austria says reopening shops has not accelerated coronavirus infections
Austria’s first loosening of its coronavirus lockdown three weeks ago, in which thousands of shops reopened, has not led to a new spike in infections, though further vigilance is necessary, its health minister said on Tuesday.
The Alpine country acted early to tackle the viral pandemic, closing bars, restaurants, schools, theatres, non-essential shops and other gathering places seven weeks ago.
That helped cut the daily increase in infections to less than 1% and keep deaths relatively low – with just 606 reported so far.
Buoyed by those numbers, on 14 April, Austria became one of the first countries in Europe to loosen its lockdown, reopening DIY and garden centres as well as shops of up to 400 sq metres – twice the playing area of a singles tennis court.
“We can now examine and assess the effects of 14 April and the following days very, very well and they show that we managed this first opening step excellently,” health minister Rudolf Anschober told a news conference.
“We have no indication of a noticeable increase in individual areas. The situation is very, very constant, very, very stable and that is a really very, very positive, good situation,” he said.
The daily increase in infections, he added, is 0.2%.
Current data does not reflect the impact of a more recent loosening from 1 May when hairdressers, other service providers and shops of more than 400 sq metres were allowed to reopen.
Further steps are planned, with restaurants, bars, museums and hotels all due to reopen this month.
Anschober and interior minister Karl Nehammer urged the public to keep implementing social distancing rules and heed a requirement to wear face masks or a fabric equivalent in shops, on public transport and in some government buildings.
“Personal responsibility and discipline remain the most important thing because a possible second wave (of infections) must not become a tsunami,” Nehammer said.
Updated
Amid the steady stream of stories on the lives lost to coronavirus are cases that stand out as remarkable. In the past month, at least two pairs of twins have died in Britain and two pairs of brothers, all within hours or days of each other. But do the deaths point to genetic factors that make some more likely than others to succumb to the disease?
Most scientists believe that genes play a role in how people respond to infections. A person’s genetic makeup may influence the receptors that the coronavirus uses to invade human cells. How resilient the person is to the infection, their general health, and how the immune system reacts will also have some genetic component.
A team led by Prof Tim Spector, head of twin research and genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, has reported that Covid-19 symptoms appear to be 50% genetic.
But Spector said more work is needed to understand which genes are involved and what difference they make to the course of the disease. “We don’t know if there are genes linked to the receptors or genes linked to how the infection presents,” he said.
“These deaths alert people to the fact that this could be genetic, but when people live together they share an environment as well,” Spector said. The upshot is that twins who live together are more likely to have similar lifestyles and behaviours, from diet and exercise habits to how quickly they seek medical care. Twins are not generally less healthy than the wider population.
The mayor of The Hague has issued a statement ordering police to break up a demonstration by around 200 people who had gathered to protest against measures ordered by the government to slow the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
Police said in a statement that they were “detaining demonstrators that ignore the mayor’s order”. Local press agency ANP said dozens had been detained.
The Dutch government has banned public gatherings since mid-March, with people required to stand at least 1.5 metres apart in public spaces.
Updated
Overcrowded, unhygienic prisons in Latin America and the spread of the coronavirus both in regional prisons and in the US are a source of “major concern”, the UN rights office (OHCHR) has said.
In some cases, fear of infection has led to riots, killing dozens of inmates in Venezuela, Peru and Colombia in recent weeks.
OHCHR called for prompt, independent investigations into these incidents.
“In many countries of Latin America, you have really serious overcrowding,” OHCHR spokesman Rupert Colville told a Geneva briefing, referring to the trend as “deeply worrying”.
“It’s a chronic problem across the continent and in some cases it can be deadly,” he said.
In some places, overcapacity levels are as high as 500%, a UN official said, adding that new detentions due to violations of Covid-19 measures in places like Peru have exacerbated this.
The UN has already voiced concern over hundreds of thousands of people arrested or detained for quarantine violations.
Asked about the situation in US jails, he said that thousands of cases of infections in prisons were a “major concern”, naming specifically New York and Chicago. But he said that some progress had been made with releases of prisoners incarcerated for secondary crimes.
The US ordinarily has a prison population of 2.3 million people.
Updated
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by 317 to 41,087 on Tuesday, with 86 new deaths, health authorities said.
The country’s death toll stands at 5,168, the National Institute for Health (RIVM) said in its daily update.
The RIVM cautioned that it only reports confirmed cases, and actual numbers are higher.
France's Macron says major foreign travel to be limited this summer
French president Emmanuel Macron said it was unlikely that French people would be able to undertake major foreign trips this summer and that even trips within Europe may have to be limited in order to reduce the risk of a resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic.
Macron told reporters during a visit to a school outside Paris:
It is too soon to say whether we can take holidays. What I can say is that we will limit major international travel, even during the summer holidays.
We will stay among Europeans and, depending on how the epidemic evolves, we might have to reduce that a little more. We will know early June.
France is set to end its lockdown on 11 May, when people will be allowed to move up to 100km (60 miles) around their residence.
Updated
Yemen announced on Tuesday nine new coronavirus cases and one death, raising total infections to 21 and three deaths, the country’s supreme national emergency committee said on Twitter.
Eight cases were detected in the southern port city of Aden and another infection was recorded in Hadhramout region, it said.
The health ministry of the Houthi-controlled government in the north has not announced any infections so far.
Authorities have said all suspected cases there had tested negative.
One of Bangladesh’s largest drugmakers, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, will start production this month of the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir, which has shown promise in fighting the new coronavirus, a senior company executive said on Tuesday.
Remdesivir, a drug developed by Gilead Sciences, has grabbed attention as one of the most promising treatments for Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has killed more than 250,000 people.
US drug authorities granted emergency use authorisation last week, paving the way for its broader use across US hospitals, after Gilead provided data showing the drug helped to improve survival rates for Covid-19 patients.
Beximco’s pricing indicates a course of remdesivir treatment could cost anywhere between $295 and $781 per patient in the south Asian country depending on the severity of the case, the number of vials required and the final pricing of the drug.
The figures are a first indication of how the potentially life-saving drug will be priced, as countries around the world struggle to control the pandemic.
Gilead has donated an initial batch of 1.5m vials of the drug to help patients in the United States, but has yet to announce its pricing.
The Swiss parliament has backed the government’s request for nearly 1.9bn Swiss francs ($1.97 bn) in aid for the struggling aviation sector crippled by the coronavirus pandemic, but said carriers must meet environmental targets.
The package includes 1.275bn francs in loan guarantees for Lufthansa-owned Swiss and Edelweiss and 600m francs for companies that provide services including Swissport International, Gategroup and SR Technics.
The lower house on Monday linked approval of the package to assurances that the carriers would adhere to future government climate targets but rejected even tougher conditions sought by MPs sceptical about state aid to airlines in general.
The upper house approved the package on Tuesday with some minor differences that need to be worked out, but this was seen as a formality.
Meeting in special session after weeks of being suspended amid the pandemic, parliament is signing off on around 57bn Swiss francs in emergency measures proposed by the government to get the economy back on its feet.
This includes loan guarantees for business, support for short-time work regimes and payments for entrepreneurs sidelined by restrictions on public life.
Updated
On Wednesday, Pedro Sánchez will once again ask Spanish MPs to approve an extension of the state of emergency that underpins one of the strictest coronavirus lockdowns in Europe.
If recent days and parliamentary sessions are anything to go by, the prime minister will not be in for an easy ride.
At a time when opposition parties elsewhere in Europe are rallying around the flag, the adversaries of Sánchez’s socialist-led coalition are using the virus as a cudgel.
The government has been bitterly criticised for allowing huge marches around the country to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March, for reacting too slowly to the pandemic, and for inconsistencies and delays in publishing some statistics.
On Monday, the leader of the conservative People’s party (PP) announced that he felt unable to support another two-week extension of the emergency situation.
Pablo Casado said the crisis measures, initially designed to contain the disease and prevent the collapse of the country’s intensive care units, were no longer necessary at a time when people were once again being allowed outdoors.
He also accused Sánchez of hasty improvisation and said the PP would not tolerate the minority government’s “immoral” attempts to “hold Spaniards hostage”.
Casado’s language was in keeping with his sustained criticisms of the government – if slightly more moderate than on previous occasions.
“You don’t deserve the support of the opposition,” he told Sánchez in April. “Your arrogance, your lies and your ineffectiveness are an explosive combination for Spain.”
Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party, is also refusing to support an extension and has likened Sánchez to a surgeon who kills healthy people on his operating table.
According to Abascal, the socialists and their partners in the far-left, anti-austerity Podemos alliance are seeking to replace democratic normality with “a totalitarian one based on uncertainty that has brought Spain nothing but more death, more ruin, more unemployment and less freedom”.
All main Turkish factories will resume operations as of 11 May, industry minister Mustafa Varank said on Tuesday, a day after president Tayyip Erdoğan announced a normalisation period to restart the economy following the coronavirus outbreak.
Turkey has about 130,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases, but the country will start easing containment measures in May, June and July amid a slowdown in the outbreak, Erdoğan said on Monday.
Officials in India’s capital have imposed a special tax of 70% on retail alcohol purchases to deter large gatherings at stores as authorities ease a six-week lockdown imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Taxes on alcohol are a key contributor to the revenue of many of India’s 36 states and federal territories, most of which are running short of funds because of the lengthy disruption in economic activity caused by the virus.
Police baton-charged hundreds of people who had flocked to liquor shops when they opened on Monday for the first time in a relaxation of the world’s biggest lockdown, which is set to run until 17 May.
The Delhi state government announced the “special corona fee” in a public notice late on Monday.
Arvind Kejriwal, the state’s chief minister, said:
It was unfortunate that chaos was seen at some shops in Delhi.
If we come to know about violations of social distancing and other norms from any area, then we will have to seal the area and revoke the relaxations there.
Angela Merkel’s office has just released the criteria according to which regional interventions would be made in case of a rise in coronavirus cases.
If the number of new cases rises within a seven day period to more than 35 cases per 100,000 residents, the local authorities in that particular area will be required to revert back to the lockdown conditions imposed on April 20.
This would in short mean that all but essential shops in that area would have to close, as would schools, hairdressers, museums and zoos.
If the United Kingdom had ramped up testing for Covid-19 earlier, it could have been beneficial, the British government’s chief scientific adviser has said.
Asked by the British parliament’s health and social care committee to reflect on what he would have done differently, Patrick Vallance said: “I’d be amazed, if when we look back, we don’t think: yep we could have done something differently there.”
In the early phases, I think if we’d managed to ramp testing capacity quicker it would have been beneficial. And you know for all sorts of reasons that didn’t happen.
It’s completely wrong to think of testing as the answer - its just part of the system that you need to get right.
The British government has ramped up testing over the past month and 945,299 people have so far been tested, though opposition parties say prime minister Boris Johnson was too slow to increase testing.
Britain has overtaken Italy to report the highest official death toll from coronavirus in Europe with more than 32,000 deaths, figures released on Tuesday showed.
“I don’t think it’s chance that two huge cosmopolitan well-connected cities with multiple imports from all over the world - New York and London - got very hard hit,” Vallance said.
WHO urges countries to investigate possible early Covid-19 cases after French study
The World Health Organization has said a study by French scientists which suggests a man was infected with Covid-19 as early as 27 December was “not surprising”, and urged countries to investigate any other early suspicious cases.
Covid-19, as it was later named, was first reported by Chinese authorities to the WHO on 31 December and was not previously believed to have spread to Europe until January.
“This gives a whole new picture on everything,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a UN briefing in Geneva.
“The findings help to better understand the potential virus circulation of Covid-19,” he added, saying other possible earlier cases could emerge after retesting samples.
French researchers led by Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation at the Avicenne and Jean Verdier hospitals, retested samples from 24 patients treated in December and January who had tested negative for flu before Covid-19 developed into a pandemic.
The results, published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, showed that one patient - a 42-year-old man born in Algeria, who had lived in France for many years and worked as a fishmonger - was infected with Covid-19 “one month before the first reported cases in our country”, they said.
Cohen told French television on Monday it was too early to know if the patient, whose last trip to Algeria had been in August 2019, was France’s “patient zero”.
The researchers said the absence of a link with China and the lack of recent travel “suggest that the disease was already spreading among the French population at the end of December 2019”.
France, where almost 25,000 people have died from Covid-19 since 1 March, confirmed its first three cases on 24 January.
Lindmeier encouraged other countries to check records for pneumonia cases of unspecified origin in late 2019, saying this would give the world a “new and clearer picture” of the outbreak.
Asked about the origins of the virus in China, Lindmeier stressed that it was “really, really important” to explore this.
US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, alleges his country has “evidence” that the new coronavirus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, although scientists have advised the WHO that it is of animal origin.
“That may need further missions or a mission (to China) so we are looking forward to this,” Lindmeier said.
WHO’s top emergencies expert Dr Mike Ryan said on Monday that the body’s chief had raised the issue of the origins of the virus “at the highest level” during a WHO mission to China in January.
Updated
Spanish schools may need to operate at half-capacity if a coronavirus vaccine has not been found by the time classes resume in September, the country’s education minister said on Tuesday.
“Until we have a remedy or a vaccine, the only tool we have to fight the virus is confinement,” Isabel Celaá told the Spanish newspaper 20 Minutos.
We can’t jeopardise all the gains we’ve made. If we’ve got three million primary school children, each accompanied by an adult, turning up at school, you can imagine the huge movement that involves.
If they all turn up at once, we won’t be able to maintain the required distance.
Celaá said that meant that schools would probably have to operate “at half-capacity”, with some children attending physical classes and others continuing to study online.
Schools and universities have been closed since mid-March and the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will ask congress on Wednesday to extend the state of emergency until 24 May.
On Tuesday, figures from Spain’s labour ministry showed that the number of unemployed people rose by more than 282,000 in April. The country’s total number of unemployed people now stands at 3.8 million.
KLM has today resumed operations to a number of its European destinations, and is now running a daily flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Milan, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw and Helsinki.
It has said from 11 May, travellers will be obliged to bring their own masks that cover their nose and mouth, and it expects to keep this measure in place until the end of August.
“This involves face protection in the broadest sense of the word,” a spokesperson for KLM told the broadcaster NOS. “A scarf is also fine if it is tight.”
Travellers will be checked at the gate. Anyone not wearing sufficient face covering, will get a mask from KLM. If that stock runs out, the traveller will not be allowed on the flight.
Some of KLM’s existing destinations already require face masks to be worn on board flights.
KLM said it hopes to increase the number of flights in May to about 15%. Before this week it was operating at around 10% of its normal schedule.
Ahead of a much anticipated meeting between Germany’s 16 state leaders and the federal government on Wednesday which will decide on the next steps in Germany’s relaxation of its lockdown rules, the health minister Jens Spahn has urged decision makers to take joint steps on a regional basis, rather than individual approaches on a local level.
He said this will give the public more confidence and trust in the relaxation measures.
Under its federal system, German states can largely decide individually how they are going to emerge from six weeks of shutdown.
Currently there are widely differing rules on everything from mouth-nose coverings to which type of shops are allowed to reopen.
Spahn said that rules on how to react to the virus would depend on how badly hit particular regions were, but had to be coordinated with other states and local authorities. He told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.
If there was an outbreak say in a care home, or following a specific event... you could quickly react with restrictive measures on a local level in order to prevent the virus spreading so strongly.
If this succeeds, then there will every now and then be regions where you need to intervene more defiantly but in so doing, you also protect the rest of the country.
Overnight, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, the northern state which includes the Baltic Coast, decided that it will reopen to holiday makers from 25 May, giving Germans the first prospect of summer holidays again, albeit staycations.
Schleswig Holstein, which is home to the North Sea coast, has announced its plans to gradually reopen the border to Denmark.
As the country gets ready to breathe a collective sigh of relief, Berlin’s botanical gardens let visitors in today for the first time since mid-March.
Although the greenhouses will remain closed to the public, the outer gardens in all their spring glory are accessible, with the inevitable physical distancing rules applying.
State museums in Berlin are to announce their reopening plans - likely from the middle of the month - today, while some private galleries and museums have already opened their doors.
Some of the busiest traffic arteries in Paris will be reserved for cyclists in a bid to limit crowds on public transport when France begins lifting its coronavirus lockdown next week, the city’s mayor said.
“In total, 50km (30 miles) of lanes normally used by cars will be reserved for bicycles,” Anne Hidalgo told the Parisien newspaper.
She also said another 30 streets would be made pedestrian-only, “in particular around schools to avoid groups of people,” she said.
The mayor had already announced last week that the Rue de Rivoli, the main east-west thoroughfare through the heart of the French capital, would be for bikes only, starting 11 May.
Other streets will include the Boulevard Saint-Michel in the Left Bank’s Saint-Germain neighbourhood, and the express tunnel under the chaotic roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe.
Many Paris suburbs have also announced plans for new bike lanes, hoping to reduce pressure on heavily used commuter trains and buses as well as the Paris metro, where many seats will now be off-limits to keep people apart.
Paris officials are bracing for the return of residents after an estimated 20 - 25% of its population of some 2.2 million fled to country homes or elsewhere before the nationwide stay-at-home orders came into effect on 17 March.
Health experts warn that the social distancing necessary to avoid a fresh surge in Covid-19 cases will be difficult in large cities, especially for people who rely on mass transport to get to work.
Hidalgo, who is running for re-election, has been pushing for years to reduce car use in the capital by reducing lanes and speed limits, and closing off dozens of streets completely.
She said some of the street closures could be made permanent even after the crisis has passed.
“I know that the majority of Parisians do not want to see a return of cars and pollution,” the mayor said.
The French government has unveiled a €20m ($22 million) package to spur cycling post-lockdown, including a 50 euro subsidy for bike repairs or tune-ups.
The coronavirus death toll in Iran rose by 63 in the past 24 hours to 6,340, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said.
The total number of diagnosed Covid-19 cases in Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak in the Middle East, has reached 99,970, he said.
Thanks Nick, it’s Jessica Murray here, I’ll be running the live blog for the next few hours.
As always, I’m keen to hear your thoughts, suggestions and experiences - you can email in at jessica.murray@theguardian.com or contact me on Twitter (@journojess_).
I’ll be covering all the latest coronavirus developments across the globe - for UK-specific coronavirus news, head over to our UK live blog headed by my colleague Andrew Sparrow.
I’m now going to hand you over to my colleague Jessica Murray. Thanks a lot for all your emails and tweets in the last few hours, and of course for reading our live blog.
People aged over 70 and other vulnerable groups in Ireland stepped outdoors for the first time in weeks today after authorities eased advice on cocooning.
They may leave home for exercise as long as they avoid contact with other people, according to the new rule. “Historic moment: first man (and woman) off the cocoon,” said an Irish Times cartoon showing a couple stepping out their door. “Today is independence day for cocooners in Ireland. I now know how Nelson M felt,” said one Twitter user.
By 7am several elderly people had parked by the sea in Dun Laoghaire in south Dublin, rolling down their windows and gazing at the waves.
The cocooning was advisory, not mandatory, and some over-70s have been out walking and shopping in recent weeks. From Tuesday people can travel up to 5km from home to exercise, an extension of the previous 2km limit.
Other restrictions remain in place however, with a phased reopening due to start on 18 May. On Monday authorities reported 16 Covid-19 related deaths, bringing the total death toll to 1,319. The total number of confirmed cases of infection is 21,772.
The Irish Independent reported that health officials advised over-70s should keep cocooning until August but were overruled by the cabinet, reflecting wider tensions between ministers and scientific advisers. Simon Coveney, the foreign minister and tanaiste, denied the report.
UK coronavirus death toll rises to highest in Europe
The UK now has the highest death toll in Europe from coronavirus after new official figures revealed that more than 32,000 people have died from the virus, write Matthew Weaver and Nicola Davis.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 29,648 deaths had taken place by 27 April in England and Wales with Covid-19 mentioned in death certificates. With the addition of deaths in Scotland and Northern Ireland, this takes the UK’s death toll to 32,313, according to calculations by Reuters.
Here is the piece in full:
Saudi Arabia has given private businesses a green light to cut salaries by 40% and terminate employment contracts, citing economic hardships caused by the pandemic.
The measures, which take effect immediately, allow for employees to be laid off after six months of reduced salaries – the effect of which is set to slash household incomes.
Like the rest of the Middle East, the Saudi economy has ground to a near halt over the last two months, as construction, retail, industry and most other sectors have flatlined. The announcement is unprecedented in the modern Saudi state, where vast oil wealth has built an affluent society for many of its citizens – less so for the migrant workforce that has built the country.
A safety net generated by decades of oil revenues has been part of the pact between Saudi citizens and its well-heeled leadership and such a crisis will be difficult to digest for many, particularly as mega projects such as a $500 billion new Red Sea city rumble on, and plans continue for the G20 summit in November.
An oil price at historic lows, partly a factor of the country’s heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman flooding global markets with crude at the same time worldwide demand had plunged, has led to a sharp fall in Saudi revenues.
The economic instability led the Saudi government to insist on Monday that its currency will remain pegged to the US dollar and that it had sufficient reserves to meet all economic and exchange demands.
The Kingdom has reported 1,645 new cases of coronavirus, with seven deaths.
Updated
Germany’s main public health advisory body, the Robert Koch Institute, has reported a continuing fall in the number of new coronavirus cases, with the country’s reproduction rate – or R rate – falling to 0.71, after creeping up to 1 a few days ago.
That means every person infected with the disease is passing it on to 0.71 persons on average. While last week between 700 and 1,600 new cases were being registered every day, on Monday that figure was down to 685.
There are 163,860 confirmed cases according to the RKI, and 6,831 registered deaths. Lothar Wieler, the RKI ‘s president, called it: “A very good piece of news”. He has rarely uttered anything so positive since this crisis began. But he insisted the number should not be allowed to rise, saying that keeping distance will be what he called “the new normal” for some time to come. He warned there was sure to be a second wave, possibly even a third.
“We know with great certainty that there will be a second wave,” he said. “The majority of scientists are sure about that, and many assume there will be a third wave.” But he said countries would be better prepared for future waves. Germany is currently carrying out on average 142,000 tests a day, Wieler said, and increasing that figure was important as Germany began to relax its lockdown.
Spain reports 185 new Covid-19 deaths
Spain has reported 185 new deaths across 24 hours, meaning that the overall toll has risen to 25,613 from 25,428. The country’s health ministry also said the overall number of diagnosed Covid-19 cases has risen to 219,329, from 218,011.
It marks the third consecutive day on which Spain’s increase in confirmed Coronavirus deaths has been below 200.
As sport in various countries – notably England and Germany, whose football authorities are wrestling with the issues surrounding a restart – makes tentative steps towards coming back, news via our football editor that the Hungarian top flight will recommence later this month.
Hungarian league set to restart on 23 May: "The country has so far reported 3,051 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 351 deaths, a relatively modest number due mainly to an early and strict lockdown.” https://t.co/P8YB8GQ1Sx
— Marcus Christenson (@m_christenson) May 5, 2020
There will be no quick return to our lives after the pandemic, writes Adrienne Matei, so some realistic pessimism might help temper our disappointment.
One healthy thing you can do is to pre-emptively curb disappointment by readjusting your horizons, says Dr Amelia Aldao, a psychologist specialising in anxiety. Some of us may still have our hopes fixed to an event in the future – a July wedding we half-expect to attend, or a September getaway we think might just work out - and that can be problematic, says Aldao. “The way things are shaping up, there’s a lot of uncertainty – what’s going to be open? Is there going to be a second wave [of outbreaks]?” We just don’t know.
Looking forward to plans can be psychologically beneficial, keeping us engaged in life. But given the current circumstances, “Either focus on the right here, right now, the immediate days and weeks – we all have a lot of control over the next week,” says Aldao, “Or try focusing on the more distant future – maybe a year or more from now.”
Adrienne’s piece in full:
Afghanistan confirms highest one-day rise in new Covid-19 infections
Afghanistan has announced its highest one-day rise of new infections to Covid-19, triggered by a continued surge of transmission in Herat, Kabul and Kandahar amid intensified war across 20 provinces – as the country announced no polio vaccinations were carried out in the last two months.
A total of 330 new Covid-19 patients were confirmed overnight, marking the biggest one-day rise of infections in the war-torn country. Five deaths have also been recorded, pushing the total number of infections to 3,224 and death toll to 95. There have so far been 421 recoveries.
Fifty-nine of the new cases were confirmed in the western province of Herat, which borders Iran. The total number of infections in Herat stands at 630, with 59 recorded overnight.
More than 250,000 Afghans have returned home from Iran since the beginning of the year, fanning out across the country without being tested or quarantined.
The number of transmissions continued to surge in Kandahar and Kabul as 86 new cases were recorded in the provinces. The capital, Kabul, is the country’s worst affected area with 824.
Despite the lockdown in several provinces to contain the spread of the virus, in most cities the streets are still crowded. Experts fear fighting Coronavirus might be challenging.
Wahid Majroh, the deputy health minister, warned on Monday that the threat of the coronavirus is currently at its “highest level” and asked the people to cooperate with health workers and stay at home.
The Afghan government pledged to distribute bread to poor people via Kabul bakeries and started the process over the weekend, but the health ministry warned it may worsen the situation.
Meanwhile, the health ministry has said that it could not carry out a vaccination campaign during March and April because of the Covid-19 pandemic as it recorded six new polio cases over the weekend.
Despite multiple offers of ceasefire, Taliban intensified their attacks on Afghan security forces in last 24 hours. The defence ministry said the insurgents carried out attacks in around 20 provinces overnight.
Updated
Uganda began to loosen one of Africa’s strictest anti-coronavirus lockdowns on Tuesday after president Yoweri Museveni declared the infection “tamed”, reports Reuters.
The country of 42 million reported 97 confirmed cases and no deaths in 45 days of restrictions, and Museveni said it was now better equipped to trace and detect new infections faster.
“We have somehow tamed the virus,” Museveni said in a televised address late on Monday. “It is high time we ... start slowly and carefully to open up, but without undoing our achievements.”
Uganda, alongside neighbouring Rwanda, had some of Africa’s strictest lockdown measures, including the shuttering of all but absolutely essential businesses, dusk-to-dawn curfews, and bans on both private and public transport vehicles. Businesses including hardware shops, restaurants, wholesale stores and others will now be allowed to reopen.
Public transport and most private vehicles would still remain prohibited, however – meaning that workers for reopened businesses will have to commute either by bicycle or on foot. Schools and international borders were to remain shut. After a 14-day period, Museveni said, authorities will announce the next level of reopening.
Covid-19 infections and fatalities reported across Africa have been relatively low compared with the United States, parts of Asia and Europe. However, Africa also has extremely low levels of testing, with rates of only around 500 per million people.
Here is our full story from Eleanor Ainge Roy on the plans for a trans-Tasman safe travel zone to re-open borders between Australia and New Zealand:
Israel claims "significant breakthrough" in Covid-19 treatment
Israel’s defence minister has claimed researchers in the country have made a “significant breakthrough” in a possible treatment for Covid-19 patients.
Naftali Bennett said the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) developed antibodies – proteins that help the immune system to fight infection – that “can neutralise (the coronavirus) inside carriers’ bodies.”
Bennett had visited the IIBR on Monday where he was briefed “on a significant breakthrough in finding an antidote for the coronavirus”, his office said in a statement. The treatment was currently being patented, and the IIBR was looking to mass-produce it.
It was not clear what timeframe for the treatment being widely available was, or if animal or human trials were due to be conducted.
The announcement follows a similar study by researchers in the Netherlands, who said on Monday that they had developed an antibody that can kill the virus within a lab setting.
Roughly 100 other research groups around the world are currently pursuing vaccines, which would provide immunity from infection.
Russia reports 10,102 new Covid-19 cases and 95 deaths
The number of new coronavirus cases in Russia has risen by 10,102 over the past 24 hours compared with 10,581 the previous day, according to its coronavirus crisis response centre. The country’s tally now stands at 155,370. It also reported 95 new deaths from Covid-19, meaning 1,451 have died in total.
A short while ago I linked to our story about the disastrous effect Covid-19 could have on mountain gorillas. There are much wider implications for wildlife conservation all over the globe, too. Here is a new report by Patrick Greenfield and Peter Muiruri.
Our coronavirus map of Australia provides a comprehensive breakdown of all the cases, maps, stats and graphs from each state, as well as comparisons with other countries:
Sitting in front of a screen reading “hope on the horizon”, Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam has announced a relaxation of the city’s social distancing laws.
Lam said the number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong stood at 1,041 with four fatalities, and 900 recovered patients had been discharged by the end of Monday. There have been no community transmission cases in more than two weeks.
“I’d like to thank all the frontline workers who have been involved in fighting the epidemic, as well as those behind the scenes and the public,” she said, singling out members of the government’s advisory panel.
“I fully appreciate the government has not done a perfect job, but we kept learning and improving our measures.”
Lam announced the easing of some of the strict laws that came into force over recent weeks when Hong Kong started to see a spike in imported cases. Restrictions on group gathering will be extended for another 14 days from Thursday, but relaxed to allow for restaurants to have eight people at a table (up from four).
Seven types of businesses forced to close can reopen, including games parlours and fitness centres, but must observe requirements including temperature checks and hand sanitisers. Some licensed venues can reopen, but only with limited numbers, and no live music or dancing is allowed.
In words likely to be welcomed by parents everywhere, Lam said: “school parents and teachers have told us they are now ready, so we would like to arrange for classes to resume in a safe environment.”
Schools have been closed since the Chinese New Year holiday, more than three months ago. Different grades will return at different times, although kindergarten to year two will not go back this year, she said.
Lam and her team are wearing a newly-developed type of reusable mask that is reportedly going to be provided to every resident in Hong Kong with a Hong Kong ID. Hong Kong residents have famously been wearing masks since the start of the epidemic, and faced shortages in January and February.
Singapore has confirmed 632 new Covid-19 cases, bringing its total to 19,410. The foreign ministry said the majority of these cases had been diagnosed in work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories.
Today’s UK coronavirus blog is now up and running. Matthew Weaver is currently overseeing it here:
Cameroon will receive $226m (£181m) from the IMF’s rapid credit facility to help it meet payment needs stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s government has sought to increase health spending, strengthen existing social safety nets and provide support to affected businesses and households.
Mitsuhiro Furusawa, the IMF’s deputy managing director and acting chair, said in a statement:
“Cameroon is facing serious challenges from the twin Covid-19 pandemic and terms of trade shocks. Weak global demand, depressed commodity prices, and domestic containment measures weigh on the outlook, and are causing significant adverse economic and social effects. The shocks have given rise to substantial fiscal pressures and an urgent balance of payments need.
“Given the sudden and pressing nature of the shocks, accommodative fiscal and monetary policies are warranted to mitigate the human and economic impact of the outbreak.”
To date, Cameroon has confirmed 64 deaths from Covid-19 and a total of 2,104 cases.
Covid-19 could have a severe effect on the conservation of mountain gorillas. The introduction of the disease, as well as the fact ecotourism has ground to a halt amid the pandemic, risks putting their future on the brink.
The suspension of ecotourism during the coronavirus pandemic has also meant the main source of revenue for gorilla conservation has been lost and there are fears some of those in surrounding communities who depend on tourists could turn to poaching out of desperation. “We are worried,” says Bashir Hangi, a spokesman for the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the state body that manages Bwindi and nine other national parks. “If this continues, it’s definitely going to reverse the achievements. There’s no doubt about it.”
Full report from Jack Losh in Uganda:
India has embarked on a repatriation operation involving naval ships and aircraft to bring back some of the hundreds of thousands of nationals stuck abroad due to coronavirus restrictions.
After weeks of pressure from its nationals, India announced on Monday that it had launched a mass repatriation plan. However, the move drew immediate criticism because it expects all but those desperately in need of evacuation to pay for their journey and a mandatory two-week quarantine once they get home.
The plan suggests that up to 200,000 stranded Indians will be returned. Many hundreds of thousands more work across the [Gulf] region, along with Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, Bangladeshi Sudanese and Arab workers, including Egyptians, taking almost all unskilled roles in the gas and oil producing states, and also filling some skilled positions.
Martin Chulov, our Middle East correspondent, reports:
Updated
I’ll start off with something fairly light, for anyone waking up around now. Drive-in movie theatres are, in these socially distanced times, experiencing a surge in popularity around the world. Here is a gallery that shows how:
Updated
Hello – and good morning from London. I’ll be taking you through the next few hours of global coronavirus news. As always, we are keen to hear any tips, observations or comments. You can get in touch with me at nick.ames@theguardian.com or direct message me on Twitter @NickAmes82.
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan. Thank you for following along, and for the Twitter tips and comments, as always.
I’m off to do a bit of dusting. Hopefully nobody will ever know whether I choose to wear pants for the activity or not: in New Zealand, my colleague Eleanor Ainge Roy reports, “Dunedin city council met via online platform Zoom on Monday, and veteran councillor David Benson-Pope caused a stir when he was caught walking into his book-lined study with bare legs, carrying a feather duster.”
Just 273 people arriving in UK in run-up to lockdown quarantined
Fewer than 300 people out of the 18.1 million who entered the UK in the three months prior to the coronavirus lockdown were formally quarantined, figures reveal.
Passengers on three flights from Wuhan, in China, the source of the Covid-19 outbreak, and one flight from Tokyo, Japan, that was carrying passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, were taken to government-supported isolation facilities between 1 January and 22 March.
The figures, provided by the government to the Labour MP and member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Stephen Doughty, show this totalled 273 people.
Additional data provided to the committee shows that there were 18.1m arrivals at the UK border by air, land and sea in the same period.
Updated
UK papers, Tuesday 5 May
Tuesday’s GUARDIAN: “Anger over plans to ease lockdown that ‘risk putting workers in danger’ “ #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Hv8iNSJLdu
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 4, 2020
Tuesday’s Daily TELEGRAPH: “More than half of all adults now paid by state” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Ag7Vv7OSc2
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 4, 2020
Tuesday’s TIMES: “Download tracing app and get UK back to work” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/i5jRGce0k4
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 4, 2020
Tuesday’s INDEPENDENT Digital: “UK in talks over antibody test with ‘99% accuracy’ ” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/hL9TfrW2e2
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 4, 2020
Tuesday’s Daily MAIL: “Urgent Probe Into Obesity Link To Covid Deaths” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/MulmgiuhgY
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 4, 2020
Tuesday’s FINANCIAL TIMES: “Johnson’s back to work strategy puts businesses and unions at odds” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/inYorfgCuZ
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) May 4, 2020
Thailand on Tuesday reported one new coronavirus case and no new deaths, the lowest number of new infections since 9 March.
The new case is a 45-year-old Thai man from the southern province of Narathiwat, authorities said.
The number of new cases have been declining in the last two weeks with the exception of a cluster at an immigration detention centre in southern Thailand that has seen 60 new cases in that period, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, spokesman for the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.
Since Thailand’s outbreak began in January, the country has seen a total of 2,988 coronavirus cases and 54 deaths. Taweesin said 2,747 patients have recovered, while 187 are still being treated in hospitals.
Summary
Here are the main developments from the last few hours:
- Confirmed global death toll exceeds 250,000According to research by both the Reuters news agency and Johns Hopkins University, at least a quarter of a million people are now known to have died as a result of the pandemic. The total number of cases stands at 3,582,469. Experts worry the available data is underplaying the true impact of the pandemic. The Johns Hopkins researchers put the known death toll at 251,510.
- Hong Kong economy suffers deepest contraction. Hong Kong’s economy, already damaged by months of protest before the coronavirus outbreak, has recorded its worst decline on record.The region’s GDP shrunk 8.9% year-on-year in the first quarter, the deepest contraction since records began in 1974, and the fourth consecutive quarter to drop. Chief executive Carrie Lam noted it was worse than that experienced during the Asian financial crisis in 1998.
-
Five Eyes network contradicts theory Covid-19 leaked from lab.There is no current evidence to suggest that coronavirus leaked from a Chinese research laboratory, intelligence sources have told the Guardian, contradicting recent White House claims that there is growing proof this is how the pandemic began.
- WHO says has no proof from US on ‘speculative’ Wuhan lab claims. The World Health Organization said Monday that Washington had provided no evidence to support “speculative” claims by US president Donald Trump and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, that the new coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab, AFP reports.
- Fauci says there is no scientific evidence virus came from Chinese laboratory. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the foremost US expert on infections diseases and a key member of Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, said in an interview with National Geographic that there is no scientific basis for the theory that coronavirus was man-made in a Chinese laboratory, or escaped from a laboratory after being brought in from the wild.
- Chinese state media on Monday denounced Mike Pompeo as “insane”. Pompeo has also joined Trump in attacking the World Health Organization, which said Monday it had no evidence that the virus came out of a laboratory.
- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was also asked about the lab theory. Morrison said there had been no change to the Australian position on the theory, which is that no possibilities could be ruled out, but the most likely origin of the virus is a wildlife wet market. He reiterated calls for a “transparent” review into the outbreak and the World Health Organization’s response to the outbreak.
- New Zealand records no new cases for second day in a row, as the government considers whether to further relax the country’s lockdown restrictions. Monday was the first time since before New Zealand’s national shutdown began on 25 March that there were no new cases of the virus diagnosed.
- Australia and New Zealand confirm plans for “safe travel zone”. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have officially confirmed plans for a “safe travel zone” between the two countries. Morrison warned it is “still some time away,” however.
- Germany set to ease restrictions – report. Germany’s state premiers will agree on further measures to ease restrictions during a telephone call with the chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, Reuters reports, citing two people familiar with the preparations.
- French hospital discovers Covid-19 case from December. The hospital retested old samples from pneumonia patients and discovered that it treated a man who had Covid-19 as early as 27 December, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.
- Italy’s death toll far higher than reported. Statistics bureau ISTAT said its analysis showed an extra 11,600 deaths were unaccounted for, and it was reasonable to assume these people either died of Covid-19 without being tested or that the extra stress on the health system due to the epidemic meant they died of other causes they were not treated for.
- World leaders pledge $8bn to fight coronavirus. At a video-conference summit hosted by the European Union, Japan pledged more than $800m while Germany offered €525m. Italy and Spain each said they would provide more than €100m.
- Austrian unemployment at all-time high. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the number of unemployed Austrians to historically high levels, with a year-on-year rise of almost 60%.
- Carnival to resume cruises in August. Carnival Cruise Line has announced plans to resume operations at the beginning of August despite dozens of deaths on cruise ships during the Covid-19 pandemic and investigations into the industry’s possible role in spreading the disease around the globe.
- Plane carrying aid supplies crashes in Somalia. The accident, involving an African Express Airways plane, killed seven people on board, a security official said.
- US supreme court hears arguments by teleconference for first time. In a break from tradition caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the nine justices participated remotely via a dial-in format, while the audio feed was broadcast live.
That press conference in Australia is over now.
Australia and New Zealand confirm plans for "safe travel zone"
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have officially confirmed plans for a “safe travel zone” between the two countries. The prime ministers issued a joint statement saying:
A trans-Tasman COVID-safe travel zone would be mutually beneficial, assisting our trade and economic recovery, helping kick-start the tourism and transport sectors, enhancing sporting contacts, and reuniting families and friends.
We need to be cautious as we progress this initiative. Neither country wants to see the virus rebound so it’s essential any such travel zone is safe. Relaxing travel restrictions at an appropriate time will clearly benefit both countries and demonstrates why getting on top of the virus early is the best strategy for economic recovery,” the Prime Ministers said.
Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is addressing the media now about plans for businesses to reopen in Australia.
“Whether you’re an abattoir or a news agent, you should be thinking about your plans for reopening,” he says.
The last thing you want is the “saw tooth,” he says, where businesses “open and shut, open and shut.” Saw tooth revers to a graph that climbs and falls rapidly, resembling the shape of a saw.
Updated
Scott Morrison says that easing restrictions will ultimately be up to the country’s states and territories. More information will be made available on Friday, he said.
Morrison is asked by the Guardian’s Katharine Murphy about the proposed “trans-Tasman bubble”, which it’s understood would see the 14-day quarantine period for arriving in each country waived, so people could travel freely between Australia and New Zealand.
“It’s not about to happen next week or anything like that,” said Morrison. It’s going to come into effect only once travel resumes between Australian cities and states.
It is still some time away. It is important to flag it because it is part of the road back. At some point both Australia and New Zealand will reconnect with the rest of the world again. The most obvious place for that to start is between the two countries. We could see that happening but not something about to happen next week, it is something that will better sit alongside when we are seeing Australians travel from Melbourne to Cairns.
Australian PM Scott Morrison is being asked about the theory that Covid-19 came from a laboratory in Wuhan.
Morrison says there’s been no change to the Australian position on this, which is that we can’t rule out any possibilities, but the most likely origin is a wildlife wet market.
Nonetheless, it is important that a “transparent” review is conducted of the World Health Organization’s response to the outbreak.
He said:
What’s really is important that we have a proper review, an independent review that looks into the sources of these things in a transparent way so we can learn the lessons to make sure were there to be a virus ... that could originate anywhere else in the world, we can learn lessons from that, and that’s what Australia is focused on. I have written to all the G20 leaders about that.
Updated
Australia’s Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, says that without the decisions the country took to lock down in response to the pandemic “the health impact have been disastrous, but, the economic cost would have been even greater.”
Australia’s success in curbing the spread of the virus “has come at a cost,” he says.
That cost will continue so long as we have Australians in a position where they are unable to open their businesses and go back to the offices, children unable to go back to school, and the many restrictions in place, that is why the national cabinet has been working very effectively today as we move towards the decisions we need to take on Friday, that will impact on these restrictions in weeks and months that are ahead.”
As Australia looks to allowing people to return to their workplaces, here are some of the considerations:
- Reconfiguring and restructuring work sites
- How to respond in the event that there is a coronavirus incident in the workplace
- The communication processes within businesses
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia has kept the cash rate on hold at the record low 0.25%, citing its estimate unemployment will hit 10%.
Updated
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is addressing the media now. He says “today is about getting Australians back to work.”
Today we are focusing on another topic, about getting Australia back to work and I will ask the Attorney General and the chairman of the commission to work through some important work they have been doing with safe workAustralia. Hundreds of thousands ofAustralians have been protected in recent weeks and months. Thousands of Australian lives have been saved, when you look the experience of how Covid-19 has affected so many countries around the world, but we now need to get 1 million Australians back to work. That is the curve we need to address.
Podcast: the psychology of Covid-19 conspiracy theories
With false information linking the coronavirus to 5G telecoms or Chinese labs being widely shared on social media, Ian Sample speaks to social psychologist Dr Daniel Jolley about why the pandemic is such fertile ground for conspiracy theories:
Reuters reports that Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday, tracking a late Wall Street rally as governments eased coronavirus lockdowns while oil extended gains on expectations fuel demand would begin to pick up.
Brent crude rose 4.3% to $28.37 a barrel, up for a sixth straight day, and U.S. crude rose 1.38% to $21.77 a barrel, as countries began loosening coronavirus restrictions and crude supply cuts took effect.
“The market continues to price in the idea that things are improving,” said Gene McGillian, vice president of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
In reduced trade, with China, Japan and South Korea on holiday, Australia’s ASX 200 rose 1.26% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.66%.US stock futures rose 0.75%.
Voters are still in the dark as to whether Poland’s presidential election will go ahead as scheduled on Sunday, AFP reports, amid mounting pressure for a delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government is still seeking parliamentary approval to conduct the election by postal ballot – despite widespread concern that it would not be fair, legal or safe.
Polls suggest that PiS-allied incumbent President Andrzej Duda could capture more than 50 percent of the vote for a first-round victory.
But critics have accused the governing party of jeopardising public health for political gain. They contend that even a postal vote could put citizens at risk of catching coronavirus, as the ballots still have to be delivered and counted by hand.
Underscoring those fears, one recent survey found that only one in four eligible voters questioned wanted the ballot to go ahead as scheduled on 10 May.
Poles have been under a stay-at-home order since late March to stem the spread of coronavirus.
Testing for the virus has been limited in Poland, but officials say it has killed almost 700 people and infected 14,000 in the EU country of 38 million.
While restrictions were eased on Monday, with shopping malls and hotels allowed to open, schools remain shut and masks coupled with social distancing are mandatory outside the home.
Hong Kong economy suffers deepest contraction
Hong Kong’s economy, already damaged by months of protest before the coronavirus outbreak, has recorded its worst decline on record.
The region’s GDP shrunk 8.9% year-on-year in the first quarter, the deepest contraction since records began in 1974, and the fourth consecutive quarter to drop.
Chief executive Carrie Lam noted it was worse than that experienced during the Asian financial crisis in 1998.
“Many economists had already expected a contraction of the economy and weren’t optimistic, but the fall of 8.9% is worse than expected,” said Lam on Tuesday.
Hong Kong has largely held of a mass local outbreak of the coronavirus, credited to community efforts to socially distance, adopt strict hygiene measures, and wear masks, as well as government-implemented travel restrictions, mass testing, and quarantine requirements.
The city’s government has announced massive stimulus packages to keep the economy afloat and support citizens, but the pandemic and associated measures has had a drastic impact on the economy. Last week the finance secretary Paul Chan warned they were heading for the worst recession on record.
Hong Kong has not reported a case of community transmission for 15 days, and is reportedly about to relax the current social distancing measures to allow groups as large eight to gather together in public.
“I do feel very strongly… that the time for some lifting of the restrictions we put on social contacts has come,” said Lam on Tuesday.
“So I would just appeal to you to be a little more patient. We’ll make the decision and announce it as soon as possible.”
WHO says it has no evidence to support ‘speculative’ Covid-19 lab theory pushed by US
The World Health Organisation says the United States hasn’t given any evidence to support its “speculative” claim that Covid-19 originated in a Wuhan lab, as China dismissed the Trump administration claim as “insane”.
Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed to have proof the virus, which scientists believe jumped from animals to humans possibly at a Chinese wet market in Wuhan last year, actually originated in a laboratory in the same city.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo said on Sunday the US had “enormous evidence” to back the theory, however they have not produced it publicly or provided it to the WHO, the organisation’s emergencies director, Dr Michael Ryan has said.
“So from our perspective, this remains speculative,” Ryan said.
“Like any evidence-based organisation, we would be very willing to receive any information that purports to the origin of the virus,” Ryan said, stressing that this was “a very important piece of public health information for future control”.
“If that data and evidence is available, then it will be for the United States government to decide whether and when it can be shared, but it is difficult for the WHO to operate in an information vacuum in that regard,” he added.
Updated
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says he twice tested negative for the coronavirus but many, including a federal judge, are demanding he share the actual results. Still, the leader has refused, AP reports.
The surreal standoff is the latest flashpoint in a broader battle between a president who has repeatedly tested the limits of his power and democratic institutions. There are concerns that as Bolsonaro pushes back, it could spark a constitutional crisis.
Bolsonaro has consistently downplayed the coronavirus pandemic and has fiercely criticized efforts by governors and mayors to impose measures to control the virus’ spread, instead advocating for most people to get back to work.
But the courts have repeatedly curtailed him on this issue and others: they ruled that governors and mayors have the power to determine shutdown measures. They overturned the presidents decree allowing religious gatherings and are trying to force the release of his Covid-19 test results to put to rest speculation he may have lied.
They struck down his pick for federal police director and on Saturday suspended his decision to expel 30 Venezuelan diplomats from the country.
Bolsonaro’s supporters have denounced the decisions as part of a plot to derail his presidency, and the president himself says he is a victim of meddling by obstructionist judges.
Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
At least 300 people held in two centers set up by the Salvadoran government to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus protested on Monday, demanding to be released and given the results of their tests, Reuters reports.
El Salvador holds people accused of violating the mandatory home quarantine decreed by President Nayib Bukele in March even though the Supreme Court has since ordered him to not detain such people.
People in a sports center in the capital, San Salvador, said they had been in quarantine for more than 40 days; they also said they had been tested but did not get the results.
The Salvadoran government did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
El Salvador, which has reported 13 deaths and 555 confirmed cases, has 91 containment centers; 3,964 people are quarantined there, according to an official data.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 685 to 163,860, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday.
The reported death toll rose by 139 to 6,831, the tally showed.
But Germany’s cases might be more than ten times higher those confirmed, researchers say. The Guardian’s Europe correspondent, John Henley, had this report earlier today:
The UN Security Council on Monday backed Lebanon’s efforts to end the country’s economic crisis and tackle other challenges including the impact of Covid-19, calling on the international community to help, AP reports.
The UN’s most powerful body took note in a statement after a closed meeting of the urgent need for the Lebanese authorities to respond to the aspirations of the Lebanese people by implementing meaningful economic reforms and addressing security, humanitarian and Covid-19 challenges.
Lebanon, one of the most indebted nations in the world, defaulted for the first time in March on its sovereign debt. Anti-government protests that erupted in October subsided during a nationwide lock-down since mid-March to blunt the spread of the coronavirus. Those restrictions are starting to ease.
Last Thursday, the prime minister said he will seek a rescue program from the International Monetary Fund, but protesters rallied again Friday, criticising the governments handling of the unprecedented crisis that saw the local currency crash, people’s savings devastated, and prices and inflation soar.
Updated
1 million Australians lost their jobs from mid-March to mid-April
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that over the period mid-March to mid-April:
- One million Australians lost their jobs
- Nearly a third of Australians (31%) reported that their household finances had worsened due to Covid-19;
- One in four Australians aged 18 years and over (28%) reported receiving the first one-off $750 economic support payment from the Commonwealth Government; and
- Compared to the 2017-18 National Health Survey almost twice as many adults reported experiencing feelings associated with anxiety, such as nervousness or restlessness, at least some of the time.
The Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia estimates also showed that between 14 March and 18 April (the five weeks after Australia recorded its 100th confirmed Covid-19 case) total employee jobs decreased by 7.5%, while total wages paid by employers decreased by 8.2%.
Head of Labour Statistics at the ABS, Bjorn Jarvis, said: “The industries which lost the most jobs continued to be Accommodation and food services (-33.4%) and Arts and recreation services (-27.0%).
“Job losses in Accommodation and food services were greatest in South Australia (-39.7%) and Victoria (-35.6%).
“The new data shows that jobs in Accommodation and food services worked by people aged 20-29 and people over 70 decreased the most (-40.8% and -43.7%).”
Updated
Podcast: The NHS official privately selling protective kit
Guardian reporters Harry Davies and Simon Goodley tell Rachel Humphreys how they tracked down and confronted a senior NHS procurement official who had set up a company offering PPE for private sale:
Stranded at sea for months due to Covid-19 and refused port three times, sailor docks in Fiji
A Singaporean man has been rescued after being stranded at sea for three months and being turned away from three countries as ports around the world closed due to coronavirus.
The man, who has been identified by Fijian media as Wong Tetchoong, 59, set off from Singapore on a sailing adventure on 2 February that was meant to last for three years.
As news about the Covid-19 outbreak began to spread around the world, Wong tried to dock in various countries, but was turned away international borders and ports were closed.
“I sailed to Papua New Guinea from Indonesia because the weather was okay, but when I reached the borders, they were closed so I continued again to the Solomon Islands. It was also closed, then I went to Tuvalu and they didn’t let me in, but the Tuvalu people provided me with food,” Wong told the Fiji Sun.
After six days and six nights of sailing from Tuvalu, Wong made it to Fijian waters on 28 April. By this point his yacht was damaged and strong winds prevented him from sailing into the harbour, so he was rescued by a Fiji Navy patrol boat, which brought his yacht safely to shore.
Fauci says there is no scientific evidence virus came from Chinese laboratory
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the foremost US expert on infections diseases and a key member of Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, has said that there is no scientific basis for the theory that coronavirus was man-made in a Chinese laboratory, or escaped from a laboratory after being brought in from the wild.
Dr. Fauci told National Geographic, in an interview just published:
If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what’s out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated … Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species
“Based on the scientific evidence, he also doesn’t entertain an alternate theory—that someone found the coronavirus in the wild, brought it to a lab, and then it accidentally escaped,” National Geographic reports.
The theory that the virus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China was cited by both Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week. Fauci joins the World Health Organization and intelligence sources in rejecting the theory in response to Trump and Pompeo’s claims.
Updated
The Guardian’s Charlotte Graham-McLay reports:
More from New Zealand now: the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has talked up the relationship between Australia and her country after joining Australia’s national cabinet meeting by secure call this morning.
It is understood that the prospect of a “trans-Tasman bubble” – which has been anticipated by both countries’ leaders – was discussed at the meeting. Ardern said she would not reveal much detail from the gathering before an expected joint news release later this afternoon – including refusing to speculate on the timeline of when such a “bubble” between the countries might be up and running.
But she told reporters that both countries stood to benefit from the move, which it’s understood would see the 14-day quarantine period for arriving in each country waived, so people could travel freely between the two. Australia, she said, was the largest group of tourists to travel to New Zealand, after China.
“The case for increasing economic relations when safe is clear,” she said, adding praise for the “world-leading results on both sides of the Tasman” to get the virus under control.
More to come on this story later today.
Updated
The coronavirus pandemic has hit Japan’s economy hard and many factories, including those of carmakers, are scaling back production.
Foreign workers are particularly vulnerable, with a weaker support network and language barriers that prevent them from seeking government help, Reuters reports.
Union groups, labour lawyers and nonprofit organisations say foreign workers are the first to lose jobs in “corona cuts”, which they fear may expand to the kind of mass layoffs seen in the 2008 financial crisis.
Last month, the Japan Center for Economic Research estimated that if Japan’s GDP contracted by 25% this year, the unemployment rate would reach 5% and about 2 million people could lose their jobs.
In March and April, a labour organisation based in Mie, a manufacturing centre about 300km west of Tokyo, received 400 consultations from labourers who were affected by the coronavirus. About 330 were foreign workers.
Last year, 34.5% of foreign employees in Mie were temporary workers, compared with the national average of 2.5%.
New Zealand records no new cases for second day in a row
The Guardian’s Charlotte Graham-McLay reports:
New Zealand has had a second straight day of no new cases of Covid-19 cases recorded, as the government considers whether to further relax the country’s lockdown restrictions.
Yesterday was the first time since before New Zealand’s national shutdown began on 25 March that there were no new cases of the virus diagnosed.
There are four people in hospital with the illness, down from seven yesterday. There have been no additional deaths reported. 20 people have died of the coronavirus in New Zealand.
88% of the 1,486 people with confirmed or probable Covid-19 have now recovered, according the Ashley Bloomfield, New Zealand’s director-general of health, who is currently giving a news conference in Wellington.
“Of course we must stick to the plan,” Bloomfield told reporters. “The worst thing we could do is celebrate success early before the full time whistle blows.”
Updated
Anger at UK lockdown easing plans ‘that could put workers at risk’
The Guardian’s Rowena Mason and Heather Stewart report:
Workers may refuse to turn up or stage walk-outs unless the government helps guarantee their safety, trade unions have warned amid anger over guidance designed to ease the lockdown.
As ministers prepare to urge the country back to return to work, Labour joined a string of trade unions in criticising draft guidelines for being vague, inadequate and putting staff at risk because employers can choose how closely to follow them.
They warned that vulnerable people such as pregnant women, those with underlying conditions such as cancer, asthma and diabetes, and over-70s could be forced to work without enough protections.
Australia’s emergency coronavirus cabinet is due to meet later Tuesday with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also attending. New Zealand has reported 1,137 coronavirus cases and 20 fatalities.
The trans-Tasman neighbours are considering reopening their borders to allow air travel between the two countries, in a bid stimulate economic activity.
Australia has so far unveiled support measures worth about A$320 billion ($205.6 billion) or about 16% of GDP, as restrictions on public movement push the country toward its first recession in nearly 30 years.
The decline in cases and a Covid-19 mortality rate of just 1%, however, have led Australia to relax some curbs on non-essential movements.
Australia will take a 10% hit to gross domestic product and the unemployment rate will likely double in the June quarter due to measures to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will say in a speech on Tuesday.
The world’s 12th-biggest economy will lose about AU$4bn (US$2.6bn) every week due to restrictions on movement and economic activity.
But the impact would have been a lot worse if Australia - with more than 6,800 coronavirus infections and 96 deaths - had followed Europe’s example and imposed stricter controls on all non-essential services, he is expected to say.
In more news from Mexico – the country’s Interior Department issued a stern warning Monday for state governments not to use prison terms to enforce lock-downs to combat the new coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports.
The move came after one state legislature voted through a bill establishing prison terms of four to six years for people who do not respect the period of mandated isolation while suffering a serious transmittable disease.
The department said the law passed in the state of Queretaro , which sets sentences of three to five years for disobeying the orders of health or civil defense authorities during a health emergency, was disproportionate, possibly unconstitutional and discriminated against the poor.
The department expressed particular concern about one clause that sets out prison terms of two to five years for people who “obstruct public works,” saying the measure could be used against legitimate demonstrations.
Mexico registered 1,434 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday and 117 new deaths, a health official said, bringing the total in the country to 24,905 confirmed cases and 2,271 deaths.
However, health officials have previously said that the real number of cases is much higher.
The World Health Organization hailed the billions of euros raised Monday during a teleconference of world leaders to boost development of a coronavirus vaccine as a strong show of “global solidarity”.
“This was a powerful and inspiring demonstration of global solidarity,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing, of the €7.4bn ($8.1bn) raised towards the development and distribution of a vaccine for the virus that causes Covid-19.
Monday’s teleconference, which was hosted by the European Commission, almost hit the target of €7.5bn for the search for a vaccine to protect against Covid-19, and especially to ensure equitable distribution once one is developed.
“This is an opportunity for the world to come together to confront a common threat, but also to forge a common future,” Tedros said.
He stressed that the money raised would only cover part of the ongoing response against the pandemic, which has killed nearly 250,000 people out of the more than 3.5 million recorded infections globally.
“In the weeks and months ahead, we will need much more to meet the demand for personal protective equipment, medical oxygen and other essential supplies,” he said.
Police swung batons on Monday to beat back thirsty Indians jostling to buy alcohol for the first time in 40 days as the government eased further the world’s biggest coronavirus lockdown, AFP reports.
Some state leaders had pushed for liquor stores to be reopened earlier, saying the money from alcohol sales was a major source of tax revenue.
The Delhi government said late Monday that it would slap a 70% “special corona fee” on liquor sales from Tuesday to boost revenue badly hit by the pandemic, local media reported.
In some states, including Maharashtra, certain liquor stores remained shut amid confusion over which outlets were permitted to open.
And in other states such as in Assam they opened several days earlier.
Although illegal in some states, like teetotaller Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Gujarat, alcohol consumption has risen strongly in recent years as the country’s middle class has grown.
This is particularly true of spirits with Indians reportedly drinking almost half the world’s whisky - although much of it in reality is rum, according to purists.
Updated
Israel has isolated a key coronavirus antibody at its main biological research laboratory, the Israeli defence minister said on Monday, calling the step a “significant breakthrough” toward a possible treatment for the Covid-19 pandemic.
The “monoclonal neutralising antibody” developed at the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) “can neutralise it (the disease-causing coronavirus) inside carriers’ bodies,” Defence Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.
The statement added that Bennett visited the IIBR on Monday where he was briefed “on a significant breakthrough in finding an antidote for the coronavirus”.
It quoted IIBR Director Shmuel Shapira as saying that the antibody formula was being patented, after which an international manufacturer would be sought to mass-produce it.
The IIBR has been leading Israeli efforts to develop a treatment and vaccine for the coronavirus, including the testing of blood from those who recovered from Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
China reported one new coronavirus case for 4 May, down from three the day before, data from the national health authority showed on Tuesday.
The new case was imported, the National Health Commission said.
The commission also reported 15 new asymptomatic cases for 4 May, an increase of two from the previous day.
The number of confirmed cases in China has reached 82,881. With no new deaths reported, the death toll remained at 4,633.
Updated
Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday said they would ban the use of location tracking in apps that use a new contact tracing system the two are building to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, Reuters reports.
Apple and Google, whose operating systems power 99% of smart phones, said last month they would work together to create a system for notifying people who have been near others who have tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The companies plan to only allow public health authorities to use the technology.
The system uses bluetooth signals from phones to detect encounters and does not use or store GPS location data.
But the developers of official coronavirus-related apps in several US states told Reuters last month it was vital that they be allowed to use GPS location data in conjunction with the new contact tracing system, to track how outbreaks move and identify hotspots.
Apple and Google said they will not allow use of GPS data along with the contact tracing systems. The decision will require public health authorities who want to use GPS location data to rely on unstable workarounds to detect encounters using Bluetooth sensors.
Privacy experts have warned that any cache of location data related to health issues could make businesses and individuals vulnerable to being ostracised if the data is exposed.
California eases Covid-19 restrictions, allowing some businesses to reopen
Some California retailers will be allowed to reopen their businesses starting on Friday, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said Monday.
More than six weeks after the California governor issued a nationwide stay-at-home order, shops selling books, clothing, sporting goods, flowers or anything else that a customer can purchase through curbside pickup will be able to open and operate again, if they implement certain modifications.
“We are entering into the next phase this week,” Newsom said. “End of the week, with modifications, we will allow retail to start operating across the spectrum.”
“This is a very positive sign and it has only happened for one reason: the data says it can happen,” he added.
The easing in restrictions came after groups of protesters had gathered across the state in defiance of the lockdown last week. Demonstrations took place from the capital of Sacramento to San Francisco and San Diego. Large crowds turned out in Orange county’s Huntington Beach, a recent flashpoint after the governor had ordered beaches there to close over the weekend.
In case you missed it: There is no current evidence to suggest that coronavirus leaked from a Chinese research laboratory, intelligence sources have told the Guardian, contradicting recent White House claims that there is growing proof this is how the pandemic began.
The sources also insisted that a “15-page dossier” highlighted by the Australian Daily Telegraph which accused China of a deadly cover up was not culled from intelligence from the Five Eyes network, an alliance between the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
British and other Five Eyes agencies do believe that Beijing has not necessarily been open about how coronavirus initially spread in Wuhan at the turn of the year. But they are nervous about getting involved in an escalating international situation.
On Sunday Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said: “I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.”
No evidence was offered by Pompeo to back up his assertion but information has been circulating over the last month in the UK, US and Australia aimed at raising questions about the high security Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has long specialised in researching coronaviruses in horseshoe bats.
Summary
Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of the coronavirus pandemic from around the world. I’m Helen Sullivan and I’ll be with you for the next few hours.
You can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
The world has passed a sombre milestone, as data shows that at least quarter of a million people have lost their lives in this crisis so far.
The true figure is likely to be higher, with some countries underreporting deaths.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization and intelligence sources have denounced the theory, cited by US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, that coronavirus emerged from a laboratory in China. Speaking to the Guardian, the intelligence sources said there is no current evidence to suggest that coronavirus leaked from a Chinese research laboratory.
The WHO said no evidence had been provided by Washington to substantiate the claims.
- Confirmed global death toll exceeds 250,000. According to research by both the Reuters news agency and Johns Hopkins University, at least a quarter of a million people are now known to have died as a result of the pandemic. Globally, 3,062 new deaths and 61,923 new were cases recorded over the past 24 hours, taking total cases to 3.58m. Experts worry the available data is underplaying the true impact of the pandemic. The Johns Hopkins researchers put the known death toll at 250,687.
- Five Eyes network contradicts theory Covid-19 leaked from lab. There is no current evidence to suggest that coronavirus leaked from a Chinese research laboratory, intelligence sources have told the Guardian, contradicting recent White House claims that there is growing proof this is how the pandemic began.
- WHO says has no proof from US on ‘speculative’ Wuhan lab claims. The World Health Organization said Monday that Washington had provided no evidence to support “speculative” claims by US president Donald Trump and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, that the new coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab, AFP reports.
- Chinese state media on Monday denounced Mike Pompeo as “insane”. Pompeo has also joined Trump in attacking the World Health Organization, which said Monday it had no evidence that the virus came out of a laboratory.
- Germany set to ease restrictions – report. Germany’s state premiers will agree on further measures to ease restrictions during a telephone call with the chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, Reuters reports, citing two people familiar with the preparations.
- French hospital discovers Covid-19 case from December. The hospital retested old samples from pneumonia patients and discovered that it treated a man who had Covid-19 as early as 27 December, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.
- Italy’s death toll far higher than reported. Statistics bureau ISTAT said its analysis showed an extra 11,600 deaths were unaccounted for, and it was reasonable to assume these people either died of Covid-19 without being tested or that the extra stress on the health system due to the epidemic meant they died of other causes they were not treated for.
- World leaders pledge $8bn to fight coronavirus. At a video-conference summit hosted by the European Union, Japan pledged more than $800m while Germany offered €525m. Italy and Spain each said they would provide more than €100m.
- Austrian unemployment at all-time high. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the number of unemployed Austrians to historically high levels, with a year-on-year rise of almost 60%.
- Carnival to resume cruises in August. Carnival Cruise Line has announced plans to resume operations at the beginning of August despite dozens of deaths on cruise ships during the Covid-19 pandemic and investigations into the industry’s possible role in spreading the disease around the globe.
- Plane carrying aid supplies crashes in Somalia. The accident, involving an African Express Airways plane, killed seven people on board, a security official said.
- US supreme court hears arguments by teleconference for first time. In a break from tradition caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the nine justices participated remotely via a dial-in format, while the audio feed was broadcast live.
