Top story: Trump flouts intelligence with Wuhan claims
Good morning – Warren Murray with a round-up of the main headline news this Friday morning.
Tensions have emerged in NHS England as it deals with how to redeploy BAME staff away from the virus frontline to safeguard their health. The death rate among British black Africans and British Pakistanis from coronavirus in English hospitals is more than 2.5 times that of the white population, according to stark analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies. It also found that deaths of people from a black Caribbean background were 1.7 times higher than for white Britons. One health official said it was “really tricky … you have to make quite difficult decisions about certain people being on the frontline [dealing with Covid patients] and not others. It’s not like trusts are awash with staff they can start redeploying [to cover BAME colleagues], especially as they have already had to redeploy people to staff Covid wards.”
Donald Trump is accused of putting US intelligence agencies under pressure to suggest the virus came from a state-run laboratory in China. The president was asked a few hours ago whether he had seen anything that gives you a “high degree of confidence” to that effect, and replied: “Yes, I have.” But the office of the director of national intelligence (DNI) had only just gotten through saying that the intelligence community does not believe coronavirus was manmade or genetically modified, though it would examine any “emerging information and intelligence” about whether it came from animals or a laboratory accident. A whistleblower complaint by a US scientist who was abruptly removed from heading the search for a vaccine may add to evidence that Donald Trump is leaning on government agencies to back his claims about the merits of unproven treatments. Dr Rick Bright says he was removed as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (Barda) because he resisted an effort to expand the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat Covid-19.
Boris Johnson has promised to set out next week how schools and workplaces might safely reopen once lockdown restrictions are eased. Despite announcing an increase of 674 in the UK death toll, taking it to a total of 26,771, the prime minister suggested the worst was over. “We are past the peak and we are on the downward slope,” he said, three days after returning to work as he recovers from Covid-19 himself.
You’ll be wanting to follow our live blog for the latest coronavirus developments, and this at-a-glance summary is freshly minted.
There’s more in our Coronavirus Extra section further down … and here’s where you can find all our coverage of the outbreak – from breaking news to factchecks and advice.
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Moonshot finalists emerge – Nasa has selected Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Dynetics of Huntsville, Alabama, to develop lunar landers concepts for the return to the Moon. The three companies are now in competition to see who can develop a workable lander. Blue Origin proposes a three-stage lander that would abandon its landing engines on the moon’s surface. SpaceX wants to use its general purpose “Starship” which it says could also fly to Mars. Dynetics says it is planning a lander that could be launched on any rocket. Nasa’s Artemis programme aims to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024.
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Biden to address Reade claim – Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee to run against Donald Trump, will today publicly address for the first time a sexual assault claim made by Tara Reade, a former aide, that dates back to 1993. Biden’s campaign has forcefully denied the allegation. Trump is said to have exploded at his own campaign manager, threatening to sue Brad Parscale over his slump in the polls.
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UK judge fights for place on ECJ – Eleanor Sharpston QC, Britain’s last judicial member of the European court of justice, is suing the council of the European Union and the EU court over her removal from office, when her mandate does not expire until October 2021. Separately, a claim has been submitted by a team of London-based lawyers arguing that even though the UK as a nation is leaving the EU, British citizens cannot be deprived of EU citizenship without their consent. The case is being supported by crowdfunding.
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Father of Afrobeat dies – The Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, credited for creating Afrobeat along with Fela Kuti, died suddenly at the age of 79 in Paris on Thursday, said his manager, who added it was not linked to coronavirus. Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti’s band Africa ’70 in the 1960s and 70s. They created Afrobeat, fusing west African musical styles with US jazz and funk, and recording some 40 albums together over the course of 26 years.
The British musician and producer Brian Eno has called Allen “perhaps the greatest drummer who ever lived”. He played in the supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen, also featuring the Blur singer Damon Albarn and the Clash bassist Paul Simonon, which released its second album in 2018.
Coronavirus Extra
When Captain Tom Moore set out with his walking frame at the start of April he had a modest goal: to raise £1,000 for the NHS by walking up and down his garden 100 times before his 100th birthday.
The public’s huge response to the 100-year-old, who has raised £32m for the NHS, shows how much it needs some good news, writes Helen Pidd.
In today’s long read: cholera has largely been beaten in the west, but it still kills tens of thousands of people in poorer countries every year. As we search for a cure for coronavirus, we have to make sure it will be available to everyone, not just to those in wealthy nations, writes Neil Singh.
There are fears that the rush to supply wealthier countries with coronavirus tests may destabilise the fight against other illnesses that kill millions in poorer countries. Makers can get about 18 cents for a rapid malaria test but $10 for a Covid-19 test, says Dr Catharina Boehme, an adviser to the WHO. “They are shifting their production to Covid-19 tests,” Boehme said. Peter Sands, from the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said: “This is not the time to be to doing anything that weakens our ability to diagnose and treat those infected with HIV, TB and malaria in a timely and cost-effective way. Doing so would cost lives.”
Today in Focus podcast: Who is Covid-19 killing?
More than 26,000 people in the UK have officially been recorded as having died from the coronavirus. In this episode we look beyond the headline figure at who is dying – and hear from friends and family about the lives cut short.
Lunchtime read: Ms Du, door sensors and me
“Every day for the last two weeks I have spoken with Ms Du, a mild-mannered, middle-aged woman who is my quarantine handler. She calls me in the morning to remind me to send her my temperature. She texts rose emojis, reminding me to ‘please cooperate’ with the rules. If I open my door, equipped with a sensor, to put the rubbish in the hall or pick up a delivery, she immediately calls and reminds me to let her know beforehand.”
Lily Kuo, the Guardian’s Beijing bureau chief, explains: “After returning from a reporting trip to Wuhan, I have been in strict self-isolation in my apartment in Beijing. After 14 days of working from home, doing workout videos and cooking elaborate meals for myself, I finally got a chance to see Du. She was younger than I expected, dressed in a face mask, gloves and a red armband identifying herself as a community volunteer. As I squatted down in front of my door so a medic could swab my throat, Du filmed the exchange on her mobile phone …” China’s coronavirus measures are often seen as tough and effective – but how well do they really work?
Sport
Premier League clubs have invested in coronavirus testing machines that can turn around results in two and a half hours, as they gear up towards finding a way to complete the season. Brighton striker Glenn Murray has described the Premier League’s proposal for players to cover their faces by wearing snoods or masks during training as “farcical”.
The Rugby Football League has been handed a £16m emergency loan by the government to help “protect the entire sport” throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. The president of the Haitian football federation has been accused of sexually abusing young female footballers at the country’s national training centre. Any chance of a neat and tidy end to this European club rugby season looks increasingly forlorn following the decision in France to cancel the Top 14 campaign. And the former world champion Peter Ebdon has retired from professional snooker because of injury.
Business
Shares falling in Asia on the back of dismal economic data brought a meek ending to a historic, juggernaut month for stocks. Most regional markets were closed for May Day holidays but Japan’s Nikkei 225 index slipped 2.3% while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gave up 3.9%. Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow industrials were more than 1% lower. The pound is worth $1.256 and €1.147 at time of writing. The FTSE is pitching downward by 1.2% ahead of the open.
The papers
“Beckham reverses move to claim furlough cash”, says the Guardian in its front page picture story – our lead story is Boris Johnson saying Britain is “past the peak of this disease”. The Sun calls the fashionista Victoria Beckham “Penny pinch Posh”.
The words “past” and “peak” feature prominently in headline constructions of other papers too, including the Times, Express and Mirror. The Metro has a variation: “We can see sunlight”. “Johnson pledges to reveal road map out of lockdown” – that’s the Telegraph – a few short months ago you might have expected “to Brexit” on the end instead.
The i says “UK public will be told to wear masks” as part of easing lockdown. “Now we can care safely” – the Mail highlights its part in getting PPE to aged carers. “US stocks on brink of best month since 1987 despite economic pain” – something non-regular FT riders might find difficult to fathom. The “road map” gets downpage billing on the front of the Financial Times.
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