Good morning. Donald Trump claimed he had “total authority” when it came to reopening the US for business. But on Thursday he handed that supposed authority back to state governors, as he laid out his administration’s guidelines for a gradual return to something like normalcy. The federal plan calls for three distinct phases in lifting the lockdown, but while the president described them as “science-based”, the guidelines remain full of ambiguities, says David Smith.
In a virtual meeting of the G7 on Thursday, Trump was left isolated as other western leaders voiced their support for the World Health Organization. The White House has ordered a hold on US funding for the global body over claims it is too “China-centric”, yet diplomats say it is unclear what specific reforms the president is demanding.
Governors’ coronavirus performance … ranked! The responses of different states to Covid-19 have varied wildly. Daniel Strauss and Maanvi Singh assess which governors have performed best and worst in the crisis.
Ivanka doesn’t stay at home. The president’s daughter and her family flouted federal social distancing guidelines and traveled to the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey to celebrate Passover. The White House defended the trip, saying Ms Trump considers the club “a family home”.
China’s economy shrank, but the Wuhan death count rose
Now that it is apparently through the worst of the disease itself, China is reeling from the economic damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s economy shrank by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020 – the first such contraction in its history. Meanwhile, the death toll in Wuhan, the city where the virus originated, has been revised up by 50%, from 2,579 to 3,869. Officials said the discrepancy was the result of patients who died at home before reaching hospital, as well as late and inaccurate reporting.
Elsewhere in the world …
Bolsonaro is leading Brazil ‘to the slaughterhouse’ with his non-response to the pandemic, his predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tells Tom Phillips, saying the president ought to be removed from office.
Singapore’s overlooked infection risk. Praised for its early pandemic response, the city-state is now facing a surge in transmission among migrant workers living in cramped accommodation.
Belarus crowdfunds its coronavirus response. The country’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has dismissed the pandemic as a “psychosis”, leaving volunteers to prop up its fragile healthcare system.
‘Coronavirus profiteers’ are getting billions in bailouts
Environmental leaders have suggested the current crisis could present an opportunity to tackle the climate crisis and create a more sustainable world. But so far it is polluters who seem to be benefiting, with the fossil fuel, motor, aviation, farming, plastic and timber industries using the pandemic to get billions of dollars in bailouts and to weaken or delay environmental protections, as the Guardian’s environment editor, Damian Carrington, reports.
Empty planes. Though more than eight in 10 flights have been canceled, US airlines are still flying near-empty planes across the country, in what one expert describes as a “huge environmental waste”.
More from the Guardian’s Covid-19 coverage:
Ten nurses were suspended in Santa Monica, California, after refusing to care for Covid-19 patients without the crucial N-95 masks that the hospital had failed to provide.
Far-right groups took part in an anti-lockdown protest in Michigan on Wednesday, and are organising similar protests against the stay-at-home measures in several other states.
US food banks are facing budget shortfalls of millions of dollars as they struggle to keep up with demand from those affected by the tidal wave of lockdown layoffs.
In other news…
Roger Stone won’t get a new trial. The longtime Trump adviser and self-described dirty trickster had accused the jury forewoman in his case of being tainted by anti-Trump political bias, but a judge said there was “zero evidence” for his claim.
Netflix is now worth more than ExxonMobil. The streaming giant’s share price surpassed that of Disney on Wednesday and grew by another 5% on Thursday, taking its market value to $196bn. ExxonMobil, once the world’s most valuable company, is now worth a mere $166bn.
A Saudi princess was jailed without charge in Riyadh. Princess Basmah, an outspoken human rights advocate and cousin of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, claimed on Twitter that she has been detained at al-Ha’ir prison since March 2019, and that her health was now “very critical”.
Great reads
Rita Wilson on coronavirus: ‘Yeah, I was scared’
For many, it was the moment the threat from coronavirus really hit home: Tom Hanks and his wife, the actor and singer Rita Wilson, announcing they had tested positive. Now fully recovered, Wilson tells Hadley Freeman about the grim side-effects of a drug she took to combat it – and the rap that helped her to recuperate.
The food workers on the coronavirus frontline
Chicken processing is among the lowest-paid and most hazardous industries in the US, and Latina workers have led a long fight for better pay and conditions. Now, facing high demand and inadequate protections from Covid-19, food plant workers are feeling more exposed than ever. Mya Frazier reports.
Biden takes his presidential campaign online
The presumptive Democratic nominee is seen by many as an avatar of an old kind of politics, but Joe Biden is being forced to learn new tricks. Unable to leave the house, the former vice-president is waging his campaign to unseat Trump from his basement in Wilmington, Delaware, as Daniel Strauss reports.
Opinion: coronavirus discriminates, just like people
Those most vulnerable to coronavirus suffer from pre-existing conditions that are not just medical, but social, political and economic. Our shared pain has also shown our differences more starkly, says Rebecca Solnit.
The pandemic is a spotlight that illuminates underlying problems – economic inequality, racism, patriarchy.
Last Thing: lions take a big cat nap
In the absence of humans, nature is reclaiming the Earth – or so goes one of the most pervasive coronavirus memes. In the latest example, rangers at South Africa’s Kruger national park have photographed a normally elusive pride of lions napping on the cool tarmac of a once-busy road, and drinking from the water hazards on a nearby golf course.
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