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Three US children with the coronavirus being treated for rare inflammatory syndrome
Three US children infected with the coronavirus are being treated for a rare inflammatory syndrome that appears similar to one that has raised concerns by doctors in Britain, Italy and Spain, Reuters reports.
All three children - who range in age from 6 months to 8 years - have undergone treatment at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York, and all had fever and inflammation of the heart and the gut.
“Right now, we’re at the very beginning of trying to understand what that represents,” Columbia’s Dr Mark Gorelik told Reuters.
Italian and British medical experts are investigating a possible link between the coronavirus pandemic and clusters of Kawasaki disease, a severe inflammatory disease among infants arriving in hospitals with high fevers and swollen arteries.
The syndrome has been largely undetected in the United States, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Gorelik said he believes the cases are likely not Kawasaki disease, but a similar process that shares an underlying mechanism with Kawasaki, which is thought to be triggered by an infectious agent that sparks an immune response.
Summary
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Known global death toll exceeds 215,000. According to the Johns Hopkins researchers, at least 3,110,219 people have been infected worldwide and at least 216,808 have died since the outbreak began. The numbers are likely to be significant underestimates due to suspected underreporting and differing testing and recording systems around the world.
- US passes 1 million confirmed cases. The country, by far the world’s worst affected, reaches the milestone of 1 million confirmed cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The US death toll is now at more than 57,000 people.
- Confirmed deaths in Brazil exceed known Chinese toll. Brazil’s total number of confirmed deaths overtakes the WHO’s figure for China as cases accelerate in Latin America’s biggest country.
- UK reports 586 more deaths. The heath secretary, Matt Hancock, says the country has suffered 586 more deaths, bringing the total death toll in British hospitals to 21,678.
- Portugal to end state of emergency. The country’s president announces that its state of emergency will end at the weekend. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa says the third such 15-day period will end at midnight on Saturday and “we hope it will not be necessary to use it again in the future”.
- Spain outlines ‘plan for transition to normality’. The Spanish government sets out details of its lockdown strategy, as the country’s daily death toll continues to decline and the rate of contagion falls.
- 12,000 BA staff face redundancy. British Airways sets out plans to make as many as 12,000 of its staff redundant due to the global collapse in air travel caused by the pandemic. The airline’s chief executive, Álex Cruz, has told its 42,000 staff the company “must act decisively now to ensure that British Airways has a strong future” and that more than one in four jobs must be cut.
- Streamed films to be made eligible for Oscars. Films released on streaming platforms only will be eligible for Academy Awards next year because of the pandemic’s disruption to the industry, the organisers of the Oscars say.
Updated
Here is vice-president Mike Pence earlier today, failing to wear a mask at the Mayo Clinic’s facilities in Minnesota.
Pence triggered a storm of controversy on Tuesday by failing to wear a face mask on a visit to the facilities. Pence leads the US government’s coronavirus taskforce, but his staff have claimed he does not need to wear the protective covering because he is regularly tested for the coronavirus:
Updated
My colleague Sam Levin has this story:
Iranian scientist in Ice detention tests positive for Covid-19
An Iranian scientist who has been pleading for weeks to be released from a US immigration jail due to his fragile health has contracted Covid-19, according to his family and attorneys.
Dr Sirous Asgari, a materials science and engineering professor who spoke out in March about the unsanitary and “inhumane” conditions in detention, was placed in an isolation cell this week inside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) jail in Louisiana. His lawyers learned on Tuesday that his Covid-19 test was positive.
He and his family are calling for his release to a medical facility where he can receive proper care.
Updated
Doctors on the frontline also widely believe that the real numbers are much higher – one factor being people dying at home.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one medic in Rio de Janeiro state said three patients who were intubated after testing positive using faster, less accurate serological tests died during his overnight shift last weekend at a public hospital in the town of Nova Iguaçu.
If one doctor saw this (in one night) I think it’s unlikely the number for the whole of Brazil is 474.
Confirmed deaths in Brazil surpass known Chinese toll
Brazil’s total number of confirmed deaths has now overtaken the WHO’s figure for China as cases accelerate in Latin America’s biggest country.
On Tuesday, the Brazilian health ministry reported 474 deaths over the previous 24 hours, taking the total to 5,017 – more than China, where the virus was first reported and which has seen 4,643 deaths so far, according to the WHO.
Brazil now has 71,886 confirmed cases after adding 5,385 in the last 24 hours, though widespread underreporting and a generalised lack of tests means numbers are almost definitely much higher. The G1 news site reported on Tuesday that deaths in São Paulo are 168% more than the official number of 2,049.
Updated
Streamed films to be eligible for Oscars
Films released on streaming platforms only will be eligible for Academy Awards next year because of the pandemic’s disruption to the industry, the organisers of the Oscars have said.
The change, announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, follows the closure of cinemas across the US. Previously, a movie had to have been screened in a cinema in Los Angeles for at least seven days to be eligible for Oscar consideration.
The number of cases in Peru has passed 30,000, with 854 associated deaths, the country’s health ministry has confirmed.
Tuesday’s 31,190 confirmed cases represents the second-highest caseload in Latin America. The number has more than doubled in nine days, according to a Reuters tally.
Infections have prompted the collapse of some medical facilities, with bodies being kept in hallways, masks being repeatedly reused, and protests breaking out amongst medical workers concerned over their safety.
In the UK, leading BAME campaigners have said the credibility of an inquiry into why black, Asian and minority ethnic people are being disproportionately affected by Covid-19 is being undermined among those it seeks to serve by the appointment of Trevor Phillips.
The former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission was selected despite being suspended from the Labour party last month for alleged Islamophobia, including a reference to UK Muslims as being “a nation within a nation”.
The first four UK doctors with Covid-19 known to have died were all Muslim.
And Labour’s former shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, has said:
We need a public inquiry. Very sadly, the public health executive have chosen to make Trevor Phillips one of their advisers on their inquiry, which I think means that their inquiry is dead on arrival.
Morocco has insisted that allegations of police brutality in enforcing the lockdown there are unfounded after an official in the office of the UN high commissioner for human eights included it in a list of countries where crackdowns have raised concern.
High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has accused some governments of using emergency powers invoked over the coronavirus “to quash dissent, control the population, and even perpetuate their time in power”.
Bachelet did not name any countries. But at a news conference in Geneva, Georgette Gagnon, the director of field operations for the UN high commissioner’s office, included Morocco among 15 countries where police actions in enforcing lockdown measures were deemed most troubling.
Morocco’s diplomatic mission in Geneva said measures it has adopted are in line with “the rule of law in full respect of human rights”.
False information on alleged violations shared by some media are unfounded and were not mentioned in any official document of the High Commission for Human Rights.
Moroccan police have registered nearly 77,000 violations of lockdown measures and nearly 41,000 people are awaiting trial, a Moroccan source told Reuters. Prosecutors said 5% of them are in detention. Morocco has confirmed 4,252 cases of the coronavirus, including 165 deaths.
The US vice-president Mike Pence has been heavily criticised for failing to wear a face mask on a visit to the Mayo Clinic’s facilities in Minnesota.
Pence leads the US government’s coronavirus taskforce, though he is typically overshadowed by Donald Trump or medical experts at the regular press briefings.
Updated
Nearly 70 residents of a single home for military veterans in the US state of Massachusetts have died, local officials have said.
While the death toll at the state-run Holyoke Soldiers’ Home continues to climb, federal officials are investigating whether residents were denied proper medical care while the state’s top prosecutor is deciding whether to bring legal action.
“It’s horrific. These guys never had a chance,” said Edward Lapointe, whose father-in-law lives at the home and had a mild case of the virus.
According to the Associated Press, officials said 66 residents who tested positive and the cause of another death is unknown. Another 83 residents and 81 staff have tested positive.
A state of emergency in the Czech Republic is set to be extended until 17 May after a vote in the lower house of the country’s parliament.
The extension is a week shorter than the government sought. The prime minister, Andrej Babiš, had asked for an extension until 25 May to be able to keep restrictions on business in place. The state of emergency was due to expire on 30 April.
The government is reluctant to end the emergency early, even though it has already reopened some shops and services over the past week as the pace of new infections has declined.
It has announced that it now expects to reopen the economy faster than previously forecast, although not in time for the deadline now set by parliament.
Updated
Ireland has failed to reach its target to carry out 100,000 tests per week and will not meet it until the week of 18 May, three weeks later than planned, a senior health official has admitted.
The ability to quickly test and isolate anyone who catches the virus is a key component in the debate over whether to ease stay-home restrictions now in place until 5 May.
Ireland’s chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, set the 100,000 testing capacity target on 17 April and said the health service planned to meet it within 10 days.
But Cillian De Gascun, chair of Ireland’s expert advisory group, has said testing capacity has been increased to only 60,000 tests per week.
The teenage son of a doctor who died of Covid-19 after warning the UK prime minister Boris Johnson about a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) is still holding out for an apology from the government after personally confronting the health secretary, Matt Hancock.
In one of the most symbolic moments yet of the crisis, 18-year-old Intisar Chowdhury picked up the baton from his father Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury and asked the health secretary on radio if he regretted not taking more seriously the concerns he had raised in a letter to Downing Street two weeks before his death.
The teen’s intervention led to figures from politics and beyond heaping pressure on the government to admit that it had made serious errors in relation to PPE for key workers who have died. They were commemorated on Tuesday in a one-minute silence. After challenging Hancock on LBC radio, Chowdhury told the Guardian:
I have faith there will be an apology because I do feel that it has come to a point where we need one. The government are not robots. They are humans and they will understand that.
The health secretary would only go so far as to say he was really sorry about his father’s death.
I feel that was a blanket statement, that other senior government figures have forbid an apology and that was why Matt Hancock, Priti Patel and others have not given a real apology.
Whoever instructed that blanket statement – and I’m not sure who it was – was in the wrong because apologies are not an admission of guilt. Apologies are not going to make you liable for litigation and things like that.
The purpose of them is to display honesty, integrity and build trust from the public. That is the most important aspect.
Dr Chowdhury, a consultant urologist at Homerton hospital in east London, urged the prime minister to ensure every NHS worker was protected in an open letter last month shortly after being taken ill with Covid-19.
Updated
The United States accounts for about a third of all confirmed cases.
The global total stands at 3,083,467, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The US has confirmed 1,002,498.
That is far more than any other country. Spain has confirmed 232,128 cases, and Italy has confirmed 201,505 cases. No other country has confirmed more than 200,000 cases.
US confirmed coronavirus cases pass one million mark
The US has reached the milestone of one million confirmed cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The US death toll is now over 57,000 people.
Updated
Mitsotakis said people will be free to circulate as of next week and will no longer have to give prior notice of their movements. But they will need to wear face masks when travelling in taxis or on public transport, and will not immediately be able to travel around the country.
Schools and churches will open in May and hotels, restaurants and tavernas on 1 June. But they too will have to apply austere physical distancing rules when they do. Mitsotakis said:
All these things should become second nature, because there is no return to pre-coronavirus reality. Already, we are living differently.
The relaxation of measures will be reviewed every 24 hours by the experts who have been advising the government, raising the spectre of the policies being reintroduced if necessary.
Updated
The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced the relaxation of restrictions enforced almost six weeks ago.
In a televised speech from his Megarou Maximou office, Mitsotakis said the containment measures will be reversed, gradually, beginning on Monday 4 May.
“Our new slogan will be we stay safe,” he said, insisting that exit from lockdown would unfold according to a finely tuned plan over the course of the next two months.
The centre-right government implemented draconian safeguards early on and Greece has had far fewer deaths and infections than most EU member states; suffering 138 and 2,566 respectively. Mitsotakis said:
Today, we can say with certainty that the measures we took paid off. The facts cannot be disputed.
He said new cases have been virtually eliminated and the number of patients requiring hospitalisation has dropped; as has the number in intensive care. But the Greek leader warned the battle is now on to keep it that way.
This is not the end of the ordeal but a continuation. I will say it again: our exit from quarantine will be done step by step. No one can rule out a possible resurgence of the threat.
Updated
The shadow transport secretary, Labour’s Jim McMahon, has said the news is devastating for BA staff.
The government should have stepped in sooner and done more to protect their jobs. The aviation industry is critical to the UK economy but workers should not be being laid off by those at the top who have reaped the rewards from their hard work.
It was always clear aviation needed a sector specific deal to alleviate the immediate financial pressures that exist, yet the government failed to act.
The government must do more to ensure that airlines and airports have the financial resources needed to operate in a safe environment for staff and customers when the time is right to transition out of the lockdown.
More than one in four BA staff facing redundancy
British Airways has set out plans to make as many as 12,000 of its staff redundant due to the global collapse in air travel caused by the pandemic.
The airline’s chief executive, Alex Cruz, has told BA’s 42,000 staff that the company “must act decisively now to ensure that British Airways has a strong future” and that more than one in four jobs must be cut.
Cruz said BA, which has placed 22,600 people on the UK government’s furlough scheme, “cannot expect the taxpayer to offset salaries indefinitely”.
Yesterday, British Airways flew just a handful of aircraft out of Heathrow. On a normal day, we would fly more than 300. What we are facing as an airline, like so many other businesses up and down the country, is that there is no ‘normal’ any longer.
Summary
Here are the latest lines in the Guardian’s global coverage of the coronavirus outbreak:
- The head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases called on people to stay at home as much as possible as new figures show the country’s infection rate has increased.
- Vladimir Putin extended a non-working period in Russia until 11 May, as he warned the rate of infection in the country has not yet peaked. The Russian president made the announcement during a meeting with senior officials and regional heads.
- France began outlining the schedule for the end of the lockdown. The prime minister, Édouard Philippe said: “Who could have envisaged a France where schools, universities, cafes, restaurants, the majority of businesses, libraries … beaches, stadiums … would be closed?”
- Philippe also announced an ambition to increase testing to 700,000 a week, including everyone who has been in contact with someone with the virus, whether they are symptomatic or not.
- The number of confirmed cases in Saudia Arabia passed 20,000 as its health authorities reported 1,266 new infections. The kingdom reported eight deaths, bringing its total death toll to 152.
- The UK said it would begin including deaths in care homes in its daily reports, as official figures show they account for almost a quarter of the total death toll in England and Wales, with yet more occurring in private homes, hospices or elsewhere.
- Britain also expanded the list of those eligible for coronavirus tests, with health secretary Matt Hancock saying asymptomatic NHS and care staff, over-65s and those who travel to work will now qualify. He previously promised there would be 100,000 tests per day by the end of April.
- More than 3 million people around the world have been infected with coronavirus, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, while 212,345 are confirmed to have died. But the figures are likely to represent significant underestimates due to suspected underreporting.
Harley-Davidson has reported a 45% drop in quarterly profits, as motorcycle sales are hit by the global coronavirus pandemic.
The US manufacturer said Covid-19 had “dramatically changed” its business environment and it would need to make widespread cost cuts.
Net income fell to $70m (£56m) in the first three months of the year, from $128m in the same period last year. The Milwaukee-based company said global sales in the first quarter fell 18% to 40,439 motorcycles.
Jochen Zeitz, acting president and chief executive of Harley-Davidson, said:
Covid-19 has dramatically changed our business environment and it is critical we respond with agility to this new reality.
We have determined that we need to make significant changes to the company: to our priorities, to our operating model and to our strategy to drive more consistent performance as we emerge from this crisis.
Updated
Portugal to end state of emergency on Saturday
The president of Portugal has announced the country’s state of emergency to tackle the coronavirus pandemic will end at the weekend, AFP reports.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said the third 15-day period of the state of emergency will end at midnight on Saturday and “we hope it will not be necessary to use it again in the future,” the president told the media.
But, he warned, a return to normal activity would proceed “in stages”.
Sunday will also be a lockdown day, meaning that only essential workers will be able to leave their residence during the coming long weekend, which begins on 1 May.
The prime minister, Antonio Costa, is on Thursday due to unveil the areas of activity that can resume from Monday.
Next Tuesday, Costa is due to meet the president of the Portuguese Football Federation and the leaders of the country’s three biggest clubs - Benfica, Porto and Sporting Lisbon - to discuss a possible resumption of the league from the start of June at the earliest.
It comes as Portugal reported 295 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number in the country to 24,322. There have been 948 deaths from Covid-19, after 20 more were announced on Tuesday.
Updated
People in Germany have been advised to stay at home as much as possible and continue to apply physical distancing as official data appeared to indicate the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic was once again accelerating, reports Philip Oltermann, the Guardian’s Berlin bureau chief.
The basic reproduction number (R), indicating how many new cases one infected person generates on average, has come to be seen as the key indicator over whether restrictions on public life can be loosened after Angela Merkel stressed the importance of keeping the number below one.
On Tuesday, the German government’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), announced the reproduction number for Monday 27 April had risen to 1, after having put it as low as 0.7 in mid-April.
Lothar Wieler, the RKI’s president, later specified that the reproduction rate for Monday was 0.96, and therefore technically still below one.
Scientists believe the basic reproduction rate of Covid-19, R0, to lie somewhere between 2.4 and 3.3. Without measures taken to curb the spread of the virus, the rate of new infections would grow exponentially, until about 70% of the population has been infected.
Wieler appealed to the German public to “preserve our success” of having prevented health services from being overwhelmed, by continuing to apply physical distancing even though federal authorities have already begun to relax restrictions on social movement.
Updated
Justin Trudeau has urged caution as Canada’s most populous provinces announce plans to ease their lockdown measures, highlighting the challenge of balancing public health recommendations with a growing pressure to loosen coronavirus restrictions, writes Leyland Cecco in Toronto.
Trudeau said on Tuesday:
The measures we’ve taken so far are working. In fact, in many parts of the country the curve has flattened. But we’re not out of the woods yet. We’re in the middle of the most serious public health emergency Canada has ever seen and if we lift measures too quickly, we might lose the progress we’ve made.
Quebec – the hardest-hit region in the country with more than 1,600 deaths – plans to reopen elementary schools and childcare facilities on 11 May. The province has opted to suspend the return of high school until autumn, fearing that 1 million students descending on schools could trigger a second wave of Covid-19 cases. But officials have acknowledged growing concerns the sustained lockdown could have on younger children.
“Life must go on,” said the premier, François Legault, adding that parents would not be required to send their children to school and that older teachers with health concerns would be permitted to work from home. On Tuesday afternoon, Quebec is set to announce plans for businesses to reopen.
Ontario, in contrast, has taken a far more cautious approach, announcing what the premier, Doug Ford, called a “road map” rather than “calendar” on Monday. “The framework is about how we’re reopening – not when we’re reopening,” said Ford.
A riot sparked by coronavirus fears in an overcrowded jail in Lima, Peru, has left nine inmates dead, according to the Peruvian prison service INPE .
Prisoners lit fires and broke out of confinement in their wings into communal areas in the Miguel Castro Castro prison early on Monday afternoon, reports Dan Collyns from Lima.
Television images showed prisoners holding up banners and signs which read: “We want to live but outside these walls” and “Right to life”, demanding their release. Others showed inmates on the rooftops of the jail clashing with police officers who responded with teargas and firearms.
By the evening, some 200 police officers and 70 soldiers had quelled the riot but questions are being asked about the proportionate use of force after initial reports of three dead prisoners rose to nine. Five police and 60 prison officers were injured in the incident, the authorities said.
The prisoners were protesting over the lack of medical attention and personal protective equipment after an inmate was suspected to have died from coronavirus in the notorious jail on the outskirts of Lima. Local media reports claim the violence flared after the body was left in a communal area of the prison, but the head of Peru’s prison service Gerson Villar denies this.
Villar told local media that the prison service was investigating the deaths. “[The officers] did not use firearms, they used buckshot shotguns,” he said, insisting that officers were issued with “non-lethal arms”.
Some 631 prisoners were found to be infected with coronavirus after 1,393 rapid tests were conducted in Peru’s jails, Villar added.
Throughout Latin America, prisons are notoriously overcrowded and violent, and Peru is no exception. Covid-19 has impacted hard on its prison population of around 97,500. At least 500 inmates were infected with the virus and 13 were reported to have died along with five prison officers, the authorities reported last week.
Some human rights groups are calling on the Peruvian government to allow house arrest during the pandemic.
Around 3,000 vulnerable inmates were to set be released amid fears about Covid-19 propagation in the country’s jails, the justice ministry announced last week.
Peru has confirmed 28,699 cases of coronavirus and 782 deaths, the second-highest total in Latin America after Brazil.
Updated
Spain outlines "plan for transition to normality"
The government in Spain on Tuesday announced details of its lockdown strategy, as the country’s daily death toll continued to decline and the rate of contagion fell, Stephen Burgen reports from Barcelona.
With 301 deaths recorded over the past 24 hours, compared to 331 yesterday, the number of dead now stands at 23,822 out of a total of 210,000 reported cases.
The “plan for a transition to normality” outlined by Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, proposes a transition in four phases, each lasting approximately two weeks, without setting a specific date when bars and restaurants can reopen or sporting and other events can resume.
It divides the transition into areas of activities including work, personal life, culture, sport, tourism and religion, each of which will be assessed in accordance with progress in the battle against the virus.
The easing of the strict lockdown began last Sunday when for the first time in seven weeks children under 12 were allowed out with their parents. This Saturday adults will be allowed out for exercise.
Sánchez said the pandemic had been asymmetrical and this would be reflected in the exit strategy. The majority of cases have been concentrated in cities, Madrid and Barcelona in particular, and restrictions will be loosened sooner in some rural areas and the Canary and Balearic Islands where the pandemic seems to be more under control.
Initially some bars and restaurants with outside terraces will be allowed to open 30% of their outdoor tables and hotels will also be permitted to offer 30% of their rooms. Small businesses will be allowed to open under rules of social distancing, but not shopping centres.
Cinemas and theatres will reopen, but only at 30% capacity. This will be relaxed gradually towards the end of the year. Freedom of movement will gradually be extended and should return to normal by the end of June, although it’s recommended that people continue to wear masks. Schools will reopen in September.
The ministry of health will coordinate the de-escalation of the lockdown which means that normality will return at different speeds in different zones, Sánchez said. Each area will have to meet certain criteria before advancing to the next phase.
“It depends on all of us,” Sánchez said. “Any irresponsible behaviour will harm society overall. We have to curb our impatience and allow ourselves to be guided by the experts. Our behaviour can save lives and this is what patriotism means right now.”
Updated
UK reports 586 more deaths from Covid-19
The UK has recorded 586 new deaths from Covid-19, according to the country’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, bringing the total death toll in British hospitals to 21,678.
In the UK government’s daily coronavirus briefing, Hancock said that the government will publish daily figures for the number of coronavirus deaths in care homes and in the community.
It comes after consistent criticism of the UK’s reporting of Covid-19 deaths, with the government producing daily figures showing just the numbers of deaths in hospitals then comparing them with daily death toll figures from other countries that include deaths in other settings.
Hancock said the proportion of coronavirus deaths in care homes is around a sixth of the total, a figure that did not seem in line with the most recent reports from the UK’s Office for National Statistics, which suggested that about 70% were in hospitals, while the rest were in private homes, hospices, or elsewhere. (See this post from our UK coronavirus live blog for more information on that.)
Follow our UK blog for live updates on the briefing, and more news from the UK.
Who is behind the US protests against coronavirus lockdown?
Some experts have warned that the recent anti-quarantine rallies and counter-protests taking place nationwide could cause a surge in coronavirus cases in America.
Guardian US writer Adam Gabbatt explains where these protests originated and who is behind them
Governments planning to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions must take action to prevent and control the spread of Covid-19 in workplaces, the International Labour Organisation said on Tuesday.
In a statement marking international safety and health at work day, the ILO said authorities needed to seek active involvement from and dialogue with employers and workers to ensure people’s safety at work.
Guy Ryder, director general of the ILO, said:
The safety and health of our entire workforce is paramount today. In the face of an infectious disease outbreak, how we protect our workers now clearly dictates how safe our communities are, and how resilient our businesses will be, as this pandemic evolves.
It is only by implementing occupational safety and health measures that we can protect the lives of workers, their families and the larger communities, ensure work continuity and economic survival.
The ILO called for risk control measures to be specifically adapted to the needs of workers on the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic, including health workers, nurses, doctors and emergency workers, as well as those in food retail and cleaning services.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said:
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for strong national programmes to protect the health and safety of health workers, medical professionals, emergency responders, and the many other workers risking their lives on our behalf.
On World Day for Safety and Health at Work, I call on all countries to assure well-defined, decent and safe working conditions for all health workers.
Frontline health workers are the real heroes of the global COVID-19 pandemic response. We must ensure their safety and health at work. #COVID19 #safeday2020 pic.twitter.com/hjfC5eE7l1
— International Labour Organization (@ilo) April 28, 2020
Updated
France announces lockdown exit plan
France has announced a detailed map for a “progressive and controlled” exit from its strict lockdown from 11 May, even as official figures in Germany showed the Covid-19 infection rate starting to rise again after restrictions there were eased, writes Jon Henley, the Guardian’s European affairs correspondent.
The French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, told parliament the decision to confine the population to their homes six weeks ago had saved 62,000 lives but it was now time to start lifting the lockdown to avoid economic collapse. He said:
We are going to have to learn to live with Covid-19, and to protect ourselves from it … It is a fine line that must be followed. A little too much carelessness, and the epidemic restarts. A little too much caution, and the entire country sinks.
France has so far suffered more than 23,000 deaths from the coronavirus, one of the world’s highest death tolls.
Philippe warned that since some parts of the country had been hit far harder than others, lockdown measures would be lifted by area, with départements classified as red, orange or green depending on their infection level.
And if infection rates did not continue to fall as expected over the coming fortnight, the prime minister said, “we will not unwind the lockdown on May 11 – or we will do it more strictly”
Governments across Europe are wrestling with the conundrum of how best to lift confinement measures that are exacting a disastrous toll on their economies while avoiding a dangerous second wave of contagion, with Spain also set to announce its exit plan on Tuesday.
Updated
Deaths from coronavirus in Italy rose by 382 on Tuesday, 49 more than on Monday, bringing the death toll to 27,359, Angela Giuffrida, the Guardian’s Rome correspondent, reports.
The number of people currently infected with the virus fell by 608 to 105,205.
Italy has recorded 201,505 coronavirus cases to date, including the victims and 68,941 survivors.
The World Health Organization warned Tuesday of the impact coronavirus could have in Middle Eastern conflict zones, AFP reports.
“This fight has become even more challenging with the appearance of the virus in countries such as the Syrian Arabic Republic, Libya and Yemen,” said the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean director Ahmed al-Mandhari.
Years of turmoil and conflicts have destroyed healthcare infrastructure in these countries, leaving vulnerable populations prone to infectious diseases as they grapple with limited access to basic medical services, he told an online press conference from Cairo.
شاهد الآن | مؤتمر صحفي لمنظمة الصحة العالمية حول آخر المستجدات المتعلقة بمرض #كوفيد_19. https://t.co/D2qeh68FGQ
— WHO EMRO (@WHOEMRO) April 28, 2020
Another serious challenge in these countries is political fragmentation, which has often hindered information sharing and humanitarian access in these countries, Mandhari added.
Yemen, where half of healthcare facilities have been destroyed in a war between local rebels and an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia, has so far declared a single Covid-19 case.
Syria, which has experienced a devastating nine-year war, has declared 43 cases.
And Libya, which has been gripped by chaos and fighting since the 2011 removal and killing of longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi, has reported 61 cases.
"Let this unprecedented #COVID19 pandemic be an opportunity for all nations to put aside their differences, find common ground, and work together for the sake of humanity."
— WHO EMRO (@WHOEMRO) April 28, 2020
- Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari pic.twitter.com/f0rfcym6vw
Six more people have died from Covid-19 in Serbia, taking its death toll from the coronavirus to 168, the country’s health authorities reported on Tuesday, according to Serbian news site Telegraf.
In the past 24 hours, a further 222 confirmed cases of coronavirus were detected, after 5,446 people were tested, making a total of 8,497 infections across Serbia since its outbreak began.
Seventy-nine patients are being ventilated in Serbian hospitals.
Serbia’s latest figures come as the country eases its lockdown. People in the country were from today allowed out to visit parks and exercise outdoors again, while from from next Monday, 4 May, coffee shops and restaurants will reopen, although social distancing and face masks will be mandatory. (“I don’t know how we can eat with masks on, but i will update you on that one,” Ivana Nikolić, Telegraf’s world news editor, tells me.)
Nursery schools and primary schools for children up to the age of 12 will reopen from 11 May. On 18 May, air traffic will resume.
Updated
Refugees face worse consequences from the long-term economic disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic than they do from the disease itself, the head of the Red Cross has said.
In an address to the African Union’s peace and security council, Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross said the Covid-19 pandemic came “on top of an already devastating humanitarian situation” precipitated by conflicts, climate change and plagues of locusts.
He warned that displaced people and refugees already have limited access to basic services, and face difficulties in maintaining basic hygiene and physical distancing measures. In his statement, published online on Tuesday, Maurer said:
IDPs will also be disproportionately impacted by the economic repercussions of lockdown measures, given their already precarious circumstances and heavy dependency on external support from host communities and humanitarian actors.
It is therefore the ICRC’s view that if Covid-19 containment measures are imposed, authorities need to prepare and/or allow for alternate methods of delivering assistance and providing services to IDPs and host communities, in conditions that protect the health of both IDPs and staff involved.
He added:
The long-term economic disruption (and resulting social disruption) will be far worse than the health/pandemic itself. We must therefore work very hard collectively and in solidarity to accelerate responses not just in economic terms but also safety nets and given that the economic and social disruption in fragile contexts will be most acute, the international community needs to support the response through dedicated resources to these contexts.
Updated
Experts have warned that a surge in gun-related Google searches and estimated gun sales in the US during the worst public health emergency in modern history could lead to higher suicide rates, writes Alexandra Villarreal in New York.
From early March to mid-April, when the US began to experience the full force of Covid-19, its residents conducted roughly 2.1m Google searches about buying and cleaning guns, according to research conducted by Everytown for Gun Safety and shared exclusively with the Guardian. Those numbers signaled a 158% increase from what would have been expected absent the coronavirus pandemic.
Estimated gun sales also soared to 2.58m in March, Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting reported, an 85.3% jump from the same time last year.
Sarah Burd-Sharps, director of research at Everytown, said:
This unprecedented spike in new guns in people’s homes and this Googling about taking people’s guns out of storage, combined with this drastic increase in unemployment, presents a huge risk for a collateral public health crisis, which is firearm suicide.
Russia extends lockdown
Vladimir Putin has extended a non-working period in Russia until 11 May, as he warned the rate of infection in the country had not yet peaked, according to Reuters.
The Russian president made the announcement during a televised meeting with senior government officials and regional heads.
Restrictions were due to be lifted at the end of April, but Putin said the peak of Russia’s coronavirus infections had not yet been reached.
He ordered the government to come up with fresh measures aimed at supporting the economy and citizens, and to prepare recommendations on gradually easing the coronavirus lockdown restrictions by 5 May.
Updated
Infections in Saudi Arabia pass 20,000
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Saudi Arabia has passed 20,000, after the country’s health authorities reported 1,266 new infections on Tuesday.
The kingdom also reported eight deaths from Covid-19, bringing its total death toll to 152.
Number of #coronavirus cases has passed 20,000 in #SaudiArabia
— Akhtar Mohammad Makoii (@akhtar_makoii) April 28, 2020
Total infections: 20,077
New cases: 1,266
Apr27: 1289
Apr26: 1223
Apr25: 1197
Apr24: 1172
Apr23: 1158
Apr22: 1141
Apr21: 1172
Death toll: 152
New deaths: 8
Apr27: 5
Apr26: 3
Apr25: 9
Apr24: 6
Apr23: 7
Apr22: 5
Updated
UN secretary general António Guterres has said the coronavirus pandemic has exposed how fragile societies are but that if governments work together on common challenges, including global warming, it can be an opportunity to rebuild our world for the better.
Speaking at a two-day international meeting on climate change, the United Nations chief said the only effective response to the worldwide health emergency is “brave, visionary and collaborative leadership”.
“The same leadership is needed to address the looming existential threat of climate disruption,” Guterres said, noting that the past decade was the hottest in history since measurements began.
#COVID19 has exposed the fragility of our societies to global shocks, such as disease or the climate crisis.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 28, 2020
As we recover, we must build a better future for all.
Together, we can protect our planet, improve health, reduce inequality & re-energize struggling economies.#PCD11 pic.twitter.com/C8CgIvcdtG
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An official in southern Spain has apologised for spraying the local beach with diluted bleach in an attempt to protect residents from Covid-19, writes Ashifa Kassam in Madrid.
The picturesque fishing village of Zahara de los Atunes sent tractors equipped with sprayers along part of its beach last week as officials readied for the release of the country’s children after six weeks of confinement.
Spain has been among the countries hardest hit by coronavirus, with more than 23,800 deaths. The government imposed lockdown measures in mid-March, and this week the measures were loosened to allow children under the age of 14 daily outings of up to an hour.
The decision to disinfect the beach has incensed environmentalists. “It’s totally absurd,” said María Dolores Iglesias Benítez. “The beach is a living ecosystem. And when you spray it down with bleach, you’re killing everything you come across.”
With Europe and the US still the hotspots for the coronavirus pandemic, the response to the outbreak has so far focused primarily on its impact on the developed world, while poorer countries have to an extent been overlooked.
An editorial in the medical journal the Lancet challenges this outlook. Headlined “Decolonising Covid-19”, it argues that even before the health impact of the pandemic has been felt in the developing world, it’s economic impact is proving hugely damaging.
UNDP has estimated income losses of US$220 billion in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and that nearly half of all jobs in Africa could be lost. This, combined with the potential health impact, could be catastrophic. A Comment published in The Lancet Global Health in April found that a rapid acceleration in the number of cases in west Africa, as has been seen in Europe, could quickly overwhelm vulnerable health systems that typically have fewer than five hospital beds per 10,000 population.
There is a risk, the Lancet says, that attempts to tackle the pandemic by richer nations could leave the developing world “in the dark”, whilst, at the same time, expertise developed in Africa from dealing with, for example, the Ebola epidemics, is not being respected.
And, it adds, “a sinister undercurrent has re-emerged” as teams around the world race to develop treatments and vaccines for Covid-19.
At the beginning of April, two French doctors sparked an intense backlash over comments made during a live television discussion about Covid-19 trials in Europe and Australia by saying that the studies should be done in Africa first “where there are no masks, no treatments, no resuscitation”, reasoning that certain studies on AIDS had been carried out in prostitutes “because we know that they are highly exposed and that they do not protect themselves”.
Africa is a continent where the legacy of colonialism is particularly heavy. It is shocking to hear these remarks from scientists in the 21st century, at a time when the work of epidemiologists, infectious disease modellers, public health specialists and, indeed, all health workers, is in the public spotlight like never before. At the WHO press briefing on April 6, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded plainly, “To be honest, I was so appalled, and it was at a time when I said we needed solidarity. These kinds of racist remarks will not help. It goes against solidarity. Africa cannot and will not be a testing ground for any vaccine … The hangover from a colonial mentality has to stop.”
Updated
This is Damien Gayle taking back control on the live blog now, with thanks to Simon Burnton for covering my break. Remember, if you have any tips, comments or suggestions drop me a line at damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or a Twitter DM to @damiengayle.
With crucial protective gear in short supply, federal authorities in the US are saying health workers can wear lower-grade surgical masks while treating Covid-19 patients – but growing evidence suggests the practice is putting workers in jeopardy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently said surgical masks are “an acceptable alternative” to highly protective N95 respirators unless workers are performing intubations or other procedures on patients with Covid-19 that could unleash high volumes of virus particles.
But scholars, not-for-profit leaders and former regulators in the specialized field of occupational safety say relying on surgical masks – which are considerably less protective than N95 respirators – is almost certainly fueling illness among frontline health workers, who probably make up about 11% of all known Covid-19 cases.
More here:
The Slovak government has approved the use of €1.2bn from unspent EU funds to compensate for the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The government will use more than €500m to protect jobs, almost €250m to fund healthcare and €330m to help small businesses, deputy prime minister Veronika Remisova said at a televised press conference. The European commission allowed a more flexible use of the unspent EU funds earlier this month.
Updated
Here’s our news story on the apparent end of the French domestic football season, after the prime minister said there could be no play, even behind closed doors, until September. It is not yet known whether there will be a champion – Paris Saint-Germain were 12 points clear at the top when the last games were played – or relegation.
Updated
NHS England has announced 546 more deaths of patients who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 19,295. The full details are here (pdf).
Of the 546 new deaths announced today:
- 93 occurred on 27 April
- 213 occurred on 26 April
- 79 occurred on 25 April
France to scale up testing to 700,000 a week
Back to France, where Édouard Philippe has announced an ambition to increase testing to 700,000 a week, including everyone who has been in contact with someone with the virus, whether they are symptomatic or not. “Isolation is not a punishment or sanction, it is a measure of collective protection,” he said, appealing to the “civic behaviour” of everyone to isolate for 14 days if they test positive for the virus.
He announced that nurseries and primary schools will reopen on 12 May, with no more than 10 children in a nursery group and 15 per school class. A limited reopening of secondary schools will begin on 18 May.
Updated
South Africa and Nigeria - the two biggest economies in sub-Saharan Africa - will ease their lockdowns over the next days despite the continuing spread of Covid-19 on the continent.
There are now around 32,000 confirmed cases of the virus and 1,400 deaths reported in Africa, though limited testing means this is likely to be a significant underestimate.
But the social and economic pain inflicted by lockdowns, especially in poor, crowded neighbourhoods, is severe, and there have been growing if sporadic protests in many countries.
More than 25 million residents in Abuja, Lagos and neighbouring Ogun state have been under a federal lockdown in Nigeria since 30 March. This will now be eased and new measures introduced. These include a nationwide night-time curfew, mandatory wearing of facemasks and a ban on “non-essential” travel between different regions.
But a new and immediate two-week lockdown will be imposed in northern Nigeria’s largest city Kano after officials said they were probing reports of “mysterious deaths” that doctors say often involve pneumonia.
In South Africa, where a strict nationwide lockdown has confined 56 million people to their homes for all but essential journeys since late March, restrictions are being loosened on Friday to allow some people to go back to work in designated industries and basic public transport to function. Schools however remain shut and sales of alcohol banned.
South Africa has been lauded for its aggressive effort to root out pockets of infection with screening and testing, as well as its big economic relief package. However there are signs that the lockdown - which has been largely respected - is beginning to fray.
In a national address last week, Cyril Ramaphosa described five stages of progressively looser lockdown. But no dates have been given for moving down (or up) the scale beyond May 1st and the shift to phase four, and different phases can be imposed in different parts of the country simultaneously.
Strategies have differed across Africa. Kenya has imposed a loose lockdown in the capital Nairobi and port city of Mombasa along with a nationwide curfew. Ghana recently lifted most of the restrictions placed on inhabitants of major cities but has maintained a ban on social events and public gatherings are still banned.
So too has the Democratic Republic of Congo, which imposed a loose lockdown on parts of the capital Kinshasa. In Malawi, legal action has blocked attempts by the government to impose a lockdown while in Tanzania, president John Magufuli has been criticised for not imposing one fast enough.
Updated
Philippe also said there was a risk of France’s economy collapsing if the lockdown was not ended, and that the country’s hospitals had held up well to the challenge posed by the virus.
“The risk of a second wave, which might mean another lockdown, is a risk we have to take seriously,” he said, adding France had to “protect, test and isolate”.
The lockdown would be followed by a monitoring phase, which would continue until 2 June, with regulations differing between regions. “Our national strategy has to be adapted to different circumstances,” Philippe said, adding that he would be meeting local officials on Wednesday and unions on Thursday to discuss the end of lockdown measures.
“So, we have to live with virus, to end the lockdown progressively and adapt to circumstances; these are the three elements of our strategy,” he said.
Philippe said the availability of masks had been a subject that angered and upset a lot of French people. “Giving masks to medical workers, necessarily meant depriving others of them,” he said.
He said local authorities that bought masks would be reimbursed by the government for half the price, and that there would be enough masks in the country for the general public by 11 May, the day the lockdown ends, but said it would be some time for masks to be freely and widely available in shops.
Updated
French prime minister outlines schedule for end of lockdown
The French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, has begun outlining the schedule for the end of the coronavirus lockdown in France to MPs in the Assemblée Nationale.
Philippe began saying the situation was unique. “Who could have envisaged a France where schools, universities, cafés, restaurants, the majority of businesses, libraries … beaches, stadia … would be closed. We have never known this situation in our country. Not during the war, not during the occupation, not during previous epidemics,” he said.
“The country cannot be locked down for a long time … it is efficient against the virus, to stop its spread and the saturation of our hospitals and protect vulnerable people.”
“An instrument is only useful if in the long term the positive effects are greater than the negative … We have to proceed to a progressive end of lockdown.”
Philippe said he would outline the “national strategy” to end the lockdown. In medical terms “we have to learn to live with the virus …no vaccine will be available in the short term, there is no treatment and we don’t have what they call herd immunity”.
Philippe said it was implausible to think the virus would just “disappear of it’s own accord”.
He also announced that there will be no League 1 or 2 football matches before August.
Updated
New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, has said he wishes he had “blown the bugle” about Covid-19 earlier. According to figures from Johns Hopkins University, New York state has confirmed more than 290,000 coronavirus cases and approaching 23,000 deaths. Countries such as France, Italy and Spain have recorded more deaths but not by much, and New York City alone has the fifth-highest death total in the world, with the UK in fourth.
Speaking to Axios on HBO, Cuomo discussed US reactions to the first news of the outbreak, from China in December.
“When we heard in December that China had a virus problem,” he said, “and China said basically, ‘It was under control, don’t worry,’ we should’ve worried.
“I wish someone stood up and blew the bugle. And if no one was going to blow the bugle, I would feel much better if I was a bugle blower last December and January … I would feel better sitting here today saying, ‘I blew the bugle about Wuhan province in January.’ I can’t say that.”
More here:
Updated
Reuters have posted on Twitter footage of Belgian families visiting care home residents from the relative safety of a window-cleaning crane:
In Brussels, families visited care home residents for the first time in weeks on a raised platform crane, which is normally used for cleaning windows pic.twitter.com/hibileVAGW
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 28, 2020
The Los Angeles Lakers have repaid a loan of roughly $4.6m from coronavirus business relief funds after learning the program had been depleted.
The Lakers applied for the loan under the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, a part of the federal government’s $2.2tn stimulus package. The Lakers’ request was granted in the first round of distribution, but after the fund ran out of money in less than two weeks, the team returned its loan, as did several wealthier business including Shake Shack and AutoNation.
More here:
Hello, Simon Burnton here, taking over for a bit while Damien has a breather. You can reach me on Twitter at @Simon_Burnton.
How much do you know about the coronavirus?
For months it has dominated the news agenda, and the national – nay global – conversation. But how much have you taken in?
Test your knowledge with our coronavirus quiz, compiled by the Guardian’s senior social reporter, Martin Belam, and you may learn something along the way.
Updated
The president of Kyrgyzstan has extended a coronavirus state of emergency to 10 May, his office said on Tuesday, following similar moves by its Central Asian neighbours, Reuters reports.
Kyrgyzstan has confirmed 708 cases of the disease and used the state of emergency to lock down major cities and several provincial districts where outbreaks were registered.
No prizes for guessing the volume chosen for May’s Guardian reading group:
This month, we’re going to read A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe, free to read on Project Gutenberg. This has been a popular request, for obvious reasons. It’s a book that will give us some useful perspective on our current crisis. It’s also been a source of wonder for centuries, with its stories of “the face of London now indeed strangely altered”, where, over 18 months in 1665 and 1666, the city lost 100,000 people – nearly a quarter of its population.
Zambia reports six new cases of coronavirus, from 80 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.
COVID-19 #38 UPDATE @mohzambia
— Ministry of Health Zambia (@mohzambia) April 28, 2020
SIX (6) new cases of COVID-19 from Emmasdale, Matero and Chelstone in Lusaka recorded in the last 24hrs in Zambia out of 80 test conducted pic.twitter.com/cX5wNCm0e7
Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, has announced plans to turn the city into a vast open-air cafe by giving over much of its public space to hard-hit bar and restaurant owners so they can put their tables outdoors and still observe physical distancing rules, writes Jon Henley, the Guardian’s European affairs correspondent.
The Baltic state, which has recorded 1,344 cases of the coronavirus and 44 deaths, allowed cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating, hairdressers and almost all shops to begin reopening this week as part of a staged exit from lockdown.
But the health ministry has imposed strict physical distancing rules and safety measures. Shops must limit the number of customers at one time, masks will remain mandatory in all public spaces, and cafe and restaurant tables have to be placed at least 2 metres apart.
Updated
The Netherlands reported 48 more deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, its lowest figure in more than a month, bringing its total death toll from the virus to 4,566.
A further 171 people tested positive for coronavirus, according to the the latest update from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), fewer than any single day since 15 March.
The economic crisis precipitated by the lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus is beginning to bite across the world. In few places is that more apparent than Spain, where figures show the unemployment rate jumped to 14.4% in the first quarter of 2020.
The jobless rate was up from 13.8% in the previous quarter, its lowest level since the third quarter of 2008 but still the highest rate in the eurozone after Greece, AFP reports.
“This rise reflects the effect of Covid-19,” secretary of state for the economy, Ana de la Cueva, told a news conference, adding the rise in joblessness was concentrated in the services sector and among workers with temporary contracts.
Spain has been under lockdown since 14 March.
The number of jobless rose by 121,000 people to hit 3.31 million at the end of March, according to the statistics office.
But the figure may actually be higher since INE said many workers who lost their jobs were classified as “inactive” because the survey carried out to determine the jobless rate was disrupted by the lockdown.
The jobless rate also does not include the roughly 3.9 million workers who the government says have been temporarily laid off from their jobs.
Updated
How big-money measures are helping the economy through coronavirus – video explainer
The global economy is heading for what the International Monetary Fund believes is the worst recession since at least the Great Depression after the Wall Street crash of 1929. This is as a consequence of governments around the world attempting to suppress economic and social activity through lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The Guardian’s economics correspondent, Richard Partington, explains the unprecedented measures being taken to help protect individuals, households and businesses; how they are helping and the costs they may involve.
Updated
Police in Ireland have launched a week-long sweep of patrols and checkpoints to deter people from travelling before and during the May bank holiday, writes Rory Carroll, the Guardian’s Dublin correspondent.
More than 2,500 gardaí started deploying on Tuesday to enforce restrictions on movement amid growing public restlessness with the lockdown.
Operation Fanacht will see patrols and checkpoints along main routes and back roads as well as at tourist locations and beauty spots until 4 May.
It is a repeat of the operation that helped keep Ireland locked down during the Easter holiday, said John Twomey, the deputy commissioner.
We need this compliance to continue. This is a critical week for the country. If we all work together, we can help save the lives of our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues.
Government officials have expressed concern that compliance is fraying in anticipation of restrictions easing next week. Ireland’s infection rate has subsided but delays in testing and contact tracing may push back significant relaxation of the lockdown to late May.
Luxembourg has announced an ambitious plan to test its entire population for coronavirus in a month, L’Essential reports.
The government of the small, landlocked European country says it will begin the testing programme from 19 May.
Claude Meisch, the research minister, said 20,000 tests can be performed every day across 17 stations in the country.
Luxembourg has a population of about 600,000 people. It has so far detected 3,729 cases of coronavirus, of whom 88 patients have died and 3,123 have recovered.
Updated
Summary
These are the latest headlines in our global coronavirus news coverage.
- Austria has announced it will lift its lockdown at the end of April. The country will allow gatherings of up to 10 people, but the health minister, Rudolf Anschober, emphasised the importance of people continuing to follow distancing rules.
- The German economy is expected to contract 6.6% in 2020 due to coronavirus. According to economic institute Ifo, Europe’s largest economy shrank by 1.9% in the first three months of 2020 and is expecting a 12.2% contraction in the second quarter.
- The Covid-19 death toll in England and Wales was 52.9% higher than the daily figures. The Office for National Statistics said it had recorded 21,284 fatalities that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate as of 17 April, compared with 13,917 in the daily hospital death stats published by the government.
- British energy firm BP recorded a $4.4bn net loss in the first quarter. As the coronavirus pandemic crushes demand for oil, the company’s profits plunged, down from a profit after tax of $2.9bn in the first quarter of 2019.
- Turkey has sent a planeload of medical equipment to help the US. It has sent hundreds of thousands of masks, along with overalls, disinfectant and goggles to help the US as it grapples with the coronavirus outbreak.
-
Spain’s coronavirus death toll rises to 23,822 but the downward trend continues. There were 301 deaths recorded over the past 24 hours, compared with 331 yesterday and 288 on Monday. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will today outline Spain’s lockdown exit plan.
- Some children in the UK have died from a rare inflammatory syndrome that could be linked to Covid-19. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said some children without underlying health conditions had died. Italian and British medical experts are investigating a possible link between the coronavirus pandemic and clusters of severe inflammatory disease among infants who are arriving in hospital with high fevers and swollen arteries.
- The Egyptian president ordered the renewal for three months of a long-running state of emergency, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi cited health as well as security concerns for the extension of the state of emergency, which gives police broad powers of arrest and detention, and curtails constitutional rights such as freedom of speech and assembly.
- Diplomatic tensions escalated between Australia and China. Australia’s trade minister, Simon Birmingham, called for the Chinese ambassador to explain what Australia called a threat of “economic coercion” in response to Canberra’s push for an international inquiry into the source and spread of the coronavirus.
- The Scandinavian airline, SAS, said it could reduce its workforce by up to 5,000 full-time positions. It said the move was due to plunging demand and travel restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak.
Updated
Germany infection rate rises to 1.0 as people told to stay home as much as possible
The head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases has called on Germans to stay at home as much as possible after new figures showed the coronavirus infection rate had increased.
Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute, said the virus reproduction rate, dubbed ‘R’, is now at 1.0 in Germany, which means one person with the virus infects one other on average. Earlier this month, the rate was at 0.7.
It comes after Germany eased some of its lockdown restrictions last week, allowing retailers with floor space of up to 800 sq metres to reopen, along with car and bicycle dealers, and bookshops.
According to Reuters, Wieler told a regular news conference:
Against the background of the easing (of restrictions), let’s ensure we can continue to defend this success we have achieved together. We don’t want the number of cases to rise again.
Let’s, insofar as is possible, stay at home, let’s stick to the reduced contact.
Academics have suggested public life may gradually return to normal if certain conditions are met, including the ‘R’ rate, stabilising at a low level.
The number should stay below one, that is the big goal.
The further it is below one, the more secure we can feel, the more leeway we have, but there are other numbers that are also important.
The drop in new infections means that officials are now able to carry out contact-tracing again – something that had been abandoned in March when cases were rising too quickly, AFP reported.
By contrast, the mortality rate from the disease has been rising day by day. On Tuesday, it had reached 3.8%, according to RKI figures, which remains well below some neighbouring countries such as France.
Updated
The United Arab Emirates recorded 541 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, and seven deaths, as it pushed forward with plans to end its lockdown.
Akhtar Mohammad Makoii, who writes for the Guardian from Afghanistan, is using his Twitter feed to post daily reports of the latest coronavirus statistics from across the Middle East.
He reports that total infections in the country have now reached 11,380, the death toll now stands at 89.
#coronavirus in United Arab Emirates
— Akhtar Mohammad Makoii (@akhtar_makoii) April 28, 2020
Total infections: 11,380
New infections: 541
Apr27: 490
Apr26: 536
Apr25: 532
Apr24: 525
Apr23: 518
Apr22: 483
Apr21: 490
Apr20: 484
death toll: 89
New deaths: 7
Apr27: 6
Apr26: 5
Apr25: 7
Apr24: 8
Apr23: 4
Apr22: 6
Apr21: 3
Apr20: 2
The high number of infections comes at least partly because the UAE has rolled out one of the world’s most comprehensive testing regimes. Authorities say more than 1 million tests have been administered a number expected to rise, the Associated Press reports.
Like in Singapore, another small, wealthy nation that relies heavily on migrant labour, many detected cases are among UAE’s population of low-paid labourers. They are particularly vulnerable to infection as they can live with up to 10 people in a single room.
The latest from UAE comes as the country is opening up its cavernous malls and restaurants in a gamble to stimulate its economy while still trying to fight off the pandemic.
According to AP, that’s led to a new normal of temperature checks, social distancing monitors at supermarkets and marked-off empty seats on the city’s driverless Metro.
But crowds already have come to the malls and others are leaving their homes after weeks of a lockdown, eager to party in a city known for its nightlife and increasing the risk of the virus spreading.
The death toll in Iran from the coronavirus pandemic rose by 71 in the past 24 hours to 5,877, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
The total number of diagnosed cases in Iran, one of the Middle Eastern countries hit hardest by the virus, has reached 92,584, he said.
Iran’s defence minister, Brig Gen Amir Hatami, hailed his country’s response to the outbreak on Tuesday, the Islamic Republic News Agency (Irna) reported.
In a visit to a hospital in Tehran, the Iranian capital, he said the country’s medical staff had fought coronavirus “as if they were on the battlefield to combat enemies”, and said it taught the country about how to deal with future threats.
Updated
This is Damien Gayle taking the reins on the live blog for the next eight hours or so, keeping you updated with the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak from around the world, but particularly Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
If you have any comments, tips, questions or suggestions for coverage, please drop me a line, either via email at damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.
Some children in the UK with no underlying health conditions have died from a rare inflammatory syndrome which researchers believe to be linked to Covid-19, the health secretary Matt Hancock said on Tuesday.
Italian and British medical experts are investigating a possible link between the coronavirus pandemic and clusters of severe inflammatory disease among infants who are arriving in hospital with high fevers and swollen arteries.
Doctors in northern Italy, one of the world’s hardest-hit areas during the pandemic, have reported extraordinarily large numbers of children under nine years old with severe cases of what appears to be Kawasaki disease, more common in parts of Asia.
Hancock told LBC Radio:
There are some children who have died who didn’t have underlying health conditions. It’s a new disease that we think may be caused by coronavirus and the Covid-19 virus.
We’re not 100% sure because some of the people who got it hadn’t tested positive, so we’re doing a lot of research now but it is something that we’re worried about.
Children were until now thought to be much less susceptible than their parents or grandparents to the most deadly complications wrought by the novel coronavirus, though the mysterious inflammatory disease noticed in Britain, Spain and Italy may demand a reassessment.
“It is rare, although it is very significant for those children who do get it, the number of cases is small,” Hancock, one of the ministers leading Britain’s Covid-19 response, said.
He did not give an exact figure for the number of deaths.
Kawasaki disease, whose cause is unknown, is associated with fever, skin rashes, swelling of glands, and in severe cases, inflammation of arteries of the heart.
Updated
Turkey sends planeload of medical equipment to help US
Turkey has dispatched a planeload of personal protective equipment to support the US as it grapples with the coronavirus outbreak.
A Turkish military cargo carrying the medical equipment took off from an airbase near the capital, Ankara, on Tuesday, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
It was scheduled to land at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington later in the day.
A top official said Turkey is donating 500,000 surgical masks, 4,000 overalls, 2,000 litres of disinfectant, 1,500 goggles, 400 N-95 masks and 500 face shields.
Turkey has sent similar medical equipment aid to a total of 55 countries including Britain, Italy and Spain in an apparent attempt to improve its global standing by positioning itself as a provider of humanitarian aid in times of crisis.
Updated
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that it is stepping up shipments of diagnostic tests and protective equipment, with a new focus on Latin America where Covid-19 is spreading.
Paul Molinaro, chief of WHO operations support and logistics, said global vaccine shipments were disrupted in April and if this continued into May there will be gaps in immunisations, as well as disruption in some food supply chains.
Molinaro told a UN virtual news briefing in Geneva:
We saw the international air transport system on which we are quite dependent for movement of cargo gradually shut down. So we are at the point now where we need to look for solutions to this.
It was “always willing to take more offers” of commercial aircraft.
Panama will serve as a hub for regional distribution of personal protective equipment and other supplies in Latin America, he said.
Updated
The Kremlin said president Vladimir Putin would give a speech about the coronavirus situation in the country later on Tuesday.
“President Putin has a big speech planned, but I am not going to announce anything, let’s wait until the meeting,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Updated
The Czech Republic has reported its lowest daily rise in new coronavirus cases in more than six weeks as it eases out of a lockdown imposed to curb the spread of infection.
The number of cases rose by 41 on Monday, bringing the total to 7,449, with 223 deaths.
The central European country with a population of 10.7 million has seen far fewer cases than its western European neighbours after taking quick action to close schools and most shops and require face masks in public.
The daily increase in new cases has been below 100 since 22 April while businesses have put pressure on the government to lift some of its lockdown measures in place since mid-March.
The government is planning a full-reopening of shops and restaurants by 25 May. Restrictions on gatherings have been loosened, with groups of up to 10 now permitted in public, up from a previous limit of two.
Czechs are once more allowed to travel abroad but have to present a negative coronavirus test or quarantine when they return.
The country’s car manufacturing sector is also starting back up, giving some relief to an economy set to contract sharply this year.
Skoda Auto, a unit of Volkswagen and the country’s biggest exporter, returned to work on Monday after a more than five-week outage since major factories idled last month to fight the spread of the virus.
Updated
The Covid-19 death toll in England and Wales was 52.9% higher than the daily figures for deaths in hospitals released by the government as of 17 April, according to official data that include deaths in the community.
The Office for National Statistics said it had recorded 21,284 fatalities that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate as of 17 April, compared with 13,917 in the daily hospital death stats published by the government.
Updated
Spain’s coronavirus death toll has risen to 23,822 but the downward trend continues, with 301 deaths recorded over the past 24 hours, compared to 331 yesterday and 288 on Monday.
A total of 210,000 cases have been reported since the pandemic began.
The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will today outline Spain’s lockdown exit plan which has been flagged as being “gradual and asymmetrical”.
Salvador Illa, the health minister, has suggested that the easing of lockdown restrictions should be staggered, with different groups of people, such as families with children and the elderly, being allowed out in shifts at different times of day.
As of last Sunday, children under 12 were allowed out if accompanied by their parents and from next Saturday people of all ages will be allowed out for exercise, following seven weeks of strict lockdown.
Surveys that tracked millions of mobile phones show that the overwhelming majority of Spaniards have adhered to the lockdown, with up to 95% not straying from their neighbourhood. It found that 30 million people had not gone further than 500 metres from their home.
Madrid has ruled that masks must be worn on public transport, while in the Basque Country patrols will take the temperature of public transport users. Anyone with a temperature higher than 37 degrees will not be allowed to travel.
In the southern region of Andalucía, which includes the Costa del Sol and is heavily dependent on tourism, there are plans to reopen hotels in early June. Bars and restaurants will also reopen but restrictive measures will be in place to maintain social distancing.
Meanwhile, the Barcelona restaurant association estimated that around a quarter of the city’s 8,300 bars and restaurants won’t survive the current crisis. The association is calling for a freeze on rents until the industry recovers.
The Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, on Tuesday ordered the renewal for three months of a long-running state of emergency, citing health as well as security concerns.
Egypt has been under a state of emergency since April 2017, when twin church bombings claimed by an Islamic State group affiliate killed dozens of people.
The extension comes as the government battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the Arab world’s most populous country.
A presidential decree published in the official gazette overnight said:
Given the serious health and security situation … the state of emergency has been declared across the country for three months starting Tuesday 28 April.
The health ministry has so far recorded 4,782 Covid-19 cases in the population of 100 million. Of those, 337 people have died, while 1,236 have recovered.
The state of emergency gives police broad powers of arrest and detention, and curtails constitutional rights such as freedom of speech and assembly.
Last week, state media reported that parliament had approved amendments to the emergency law expanding the president’s powers to curb the virus’s spread.
The amendments grant the president rights to close schools, suspend public sector work, restrict gatherings, quarantine inbound travellers and order private medical facilities to assist with general healthcare.
Updated
Malaysian health authorities on Tuesday reported 31 new coronavirus cases, raising the cumulative total to 5,851.
The health ministry also reported one new death, bringing total fatalities to 100.
Australia has asked the Chinese ambassador to explain what it called a threat of “economic coercion” in response to Canberra’s push for an international inquiry into the source and spread of the coronavirus.
Trade minister Simon Birmingham said Australia was a “crucial supplier” to China for critical imports like iron ore, and Australia’s resources and energy helped power much of China’s manufacturing growth and construction.
Australia’s recent call for an international investigation into the coronavirus pandemic has angered China, its largest trading partner.
Cheng Jingye, Beijing’s ambassador to Australia, told a local newspaper on Monday that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef, wine, tourism and universities in response.
Birmingham said on Tuesday that Cheng had been called by the secretary of the department of foreign affairs and trade to explain his comments.
Speaking on ABC radio, Birmingham said:
Australia is no more going to change our policy position on major public health issues because of economic coercion, or threats of economic coercion, than we would change our policy position in matters of national security.
The Chinese embassy published a summary of the conversation on its website later on Tuesday, which said Cheng had “flatly rejected the concern expressed from the Australian side”.
Cheng also said “the fact cannot be buried that the proposal is a political manoeuvre”, according to the statement, which added that Australia was “crying up wine and selling vinegar” when it said the proposed review would not target China.
China accounts for 26% of Australia’s total trade, worth about A$235bn ($150bn) in 2018-19, and is the biggest single market for Australian exports such as coal, iron ore, wine, beef, tourism and education.
Updated
In Afghanistan, the president has issued a decree to release thousands of prisoners in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus in prisons
The country’s total number of confirmed cases reached 1,828 amid a continued surge of transmission in Herat, Kabul and Kandahar.
Following a decree issued by President Ashraf Ghani on Monday, 12,399 prisoners convicted for different crimes will be pardoned as per certain parameters, Rashid Totakhail, the head of prison affairs said. This is in addition to 10,000 already in the process of being released.
“All of the released prisoners have been directed to stay quarantined at their homes for at least 14 days as a precautionary measure in the wake of the coronavirus,” Totakhail added.
Wahidullah Mayar, a health ministry spokesman, said on Tuesday that 125 more patients tested positive for Covid-19 in last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 1,828.
One patient died overnight bringing the death toll to 58.
#Afghanistan has recorded 125 new #coronavirus cases, pushing the total number of infections to 1,828. One patient died overnight.
— Akhtar Mohammad Makoii (@akhtar_makoii) April 28, 2020
Daily new infections
New infections: 125
Apr27: 172
Apr26: 68
Apr25: 133
Apr24: 95
Apr23: 83
Apr22: 51
Apr21: 66
Apr20: 30
Death toll: 58
Most of the new cases were confirmed in the western province of Herat, which borders Iran. Thousands of Afghan migrants poured back from Iran in February and March, and the total number of infections in the province now stands at 444.
Mayar said on Monday the next two weeks are “very critical” and asked the nation to stay at home. But with streets crowded with people and vehicles, experts fear fighting with the virus will be challenging.
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan said on Monday that more than 533 civilians, including 152 children, were killed in the first quarter of 2020.
The UN said the new figures “highlight the urgent need for all parties to the conflict to do more to protect civilians from harm, especially in view of the looming threat posed to all Afghans by Covid-19”.
The Taliban had already rejected multiple offers to declare a ceasefire and intensified their attacks, as around 100 Afghan security forces and 34 civilians were killed over last week.
Updated
Singapore’s health ministry has said it is not able to test all migrant workers in dormitories and has been isolating some symptomatic patients first, a method that a government health adviser said was causing a lag in the reporting of cases.
The island nation of 5.7 million people has nearly 15,000 confirmed coronavirus infections, one of the highest totals in Asia, largely because of outbreaks in cramped dormitories housing more than 300,000 mostly South Asian workers.
The ministry on Tuesday confirmed 528 more coronavirus infections, the smallest daily rise in almost two weeks.
Dale Fisher, chair of Singapore’s National Infection Prevention and Control committee, told ChannelNews Asia that authorities had stopped testing some symptomatic patients in hard-hit dorms and that these infections were not being immediately reported in official tallies.
“Due to the need to prioritise, we are not able to test all in the dormitories at one go,” the health ministry said in a statement late on Monday following Fisher’s comments.
“But if any worker were to report sick or show ARI (acute respiratory infection) symptoms, we will immediately pull aside and isolate the worker from his room-mates, and ensure that he receives the necessary medical care.”
The health ministry did not say whether these isolated workers would eventually be tested, but said only those confirmed with Covid-19 infection would be reported in official daily case numbers. The health ministry did not respond to a request for further comment.
Fisher, a senior consultant at Singapore’s National University hospital who chairs an infection control committee commissioned by the government, said this method would cause a lag in the reporting of cases.
Singapore said it has been scaling up its testing capacity across the island, including in dormitories, from an average of 2,900 tests a day in early April to more than 8,000.
Singapore says it has tested 2,100 people per 100,000, compared with 1,600 per 100,000 in the United States, and 1,000 per 100,000 in Britain.
While the coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in the dormitories, many of which the authorities have sealed off, the spread in the community apart from the migrant workers has been much slower, with an average of 20 new cases a day over the past week.
Fourteen people have died of the coronavirus in Singapore.
Updated
The Philippines’ health ministry on Tuesday reported 19 more coronavirus deaths and 181 infections.
In a bulletin, the health ministry said total deaths have increased to 530 while confirmed cases have risen to 7,958.
But 43 more patients have recovered, bringing total recoveries to 975.
France is waiting for the prime minister, Édouard Philippe’s, much anticipated address to the Assemblée Nationale on Tuesday, detailing how France is going to “deconfine” on 11 May.
The lockdown, in effect since noon on 17 March, has been strict to the point of draconian in France, so the measures – and details – are important.
The address will cover six areas:
- Health: Masks: will they be mandatory for going out, if so how will people obtain them? Tests: how many and who
- Schools: This is a particular worry for parents and a thorny question for the government. How will they reopen safely on 12 May? The country’s scientific committee advising on Covid-19 has suggested schools remain shut until September and described Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that schools will open progressively on 12 May as a “political decision”.
- Work: Who can return to work and who should remain at home?
- Business: As above, what companies can reopen and how? Restaurants, cafés and bars ordered to close at midnight on 14 March, are anxious this should be as soon as possible, but it certainly won’t be 11 May and Philippe may not give a date.
- Transport: What obligatory measures will there be ie. will passengers have to wear masks? And where can people go within France and abroad?
- Public gatherings: What cultural and sporting events will be allowed and how many people in one place?
Whatever the prime minister says has already been discussed and agreed with the president.
The plan is the result of a fortnight of hasty consultation with French cabinet ministers who were all asked to come up with plans for the end of lockdown in their respective sectors, and the government’s Covid-19 scientific committee.
After Philippe speaks, there will be a short debate in the lower house of parliament and a vote. Opposition MPs are demanding they be given 24 hours to consider the end-of-lockdown plan, but the government, which has a large majority, wants the vote this afternoon.
Updated
The number of new coronavirus cases in Russia climbed on Tuesday to 6,411, a record daily rise, bringing its nationwide tally to 93,558, the country’s coronavirus crisis response centre said.
The number of deaths rose by 72, also a daily record, taking the total number of fatalities to 867.
Updated
German economy to contract by 6.6% in 2020 - Ifo
The German economic institute, Ifo, on Tuesday said it expected the economy to contract by 6.6% in 2020 year-on-year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It said Europe’s largest economy shrank by 1.9% in the first three months of 2020 and is expecting a 12.2% contraction in the second quarter. A return to the pre-crisis level is expected for the end of 2021, Ifo said.
Updated
The Scandinavian airline, SAS, said on Tuesday it could reduce its workforce by up to 5,000 full-time positions due to plunging demand and travel restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak.
Airlines worldwide are cutting flights and costs due to the pandemic, and SAS said in a statement it expected limited activity during the key summer season.
The company said last month that it would temporarily lay off up to 10,000 employees, or 90% of the airline’s total workforce, as the coronavirus brought international travel to a near standstill in March, while domestic travel has also been severely impacted.
SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson said demand would probably be substantially lower this year and in 2021, while more normal levels could be reached in 2022.
“That’s the scenario we are working towards, and it’s the best estimate we can give,” he told Reuters.
Rival Norwegian Air has warned it could run out of cash by mid-May and last week said 4,700 staff would lose their jobs after four Swedish and Danish units filed for bankruptcy, while US and European staff contracts were cancelled.
Norwegian is seeking to convert debt to equity in a bid to qualify for state aid as it seeks to survive the crisis.
SAS, part-owned by Sweden and Denmark, added that the potential reduction of the workforce would be split with approximately 1,900 positions in Sweden, 1,300 in Norway and 1,700 in Denmark.
Updated
A further four residents have died at a care home in Western Sydney after testing positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of coronavirus deaths at the facility to 11 - 12.5% of the country’s total death toll.
These latest fatalities take the number of Australia’s coronavirus-related deaths to 88.
The outbreak at Anglicare Sydney’s Newmarch House was first reported on 11 April, and “it will be some weeks before the home is clear of the virus”, the care home said in a statement.
#BREAKING: Four more residents from the Anglicare Newmarch House in Caddens, Western Sydney have died after testing positive to COVID-19. This takes the total number of deaths at the aged care facility to 11, and the national toll to 88. @abcnews #COVID19Aus pic.twitter.com/zn64NAslhU
— Chelsea Hetherington (@chelsea_hetho) April 28, 2020
Updated
Another business to be battered by the coronavirus pandemic, HSBC on Tuesday said its first quarter pre-tax profits almost halved.
The lender reported pre-tax profits of $3.2bn, down 48% from the same period in 2019, citing credit losses from clients struck by the economic slowdown as a major cause.
“The economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our customers has been the main driver of the change in our financial performance since the turn of the year,” newly confirmed CEO Noel Quinn said in a statement.
Reported expected credit losses in the first quarter of the year were $3bn – $2.4bn more than the first quarter of 2019 and the bank’s biggest bad loan bundle in almost nine years.
The Asia-focused lender has embarked on a huge cost-cutting initiative as it battles multiple uncertainties caused by the grinding US-China trade war, Britain’s departure from the European Union and now the pandemic.
Earlier this year, it announced plans to slash 35,000 jobs, trimming fat from less profitable divisions, primarily in the US and Europe.
Updated
British energy giant BP recorded a $4.4bn net loss in the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic crushes demand for oil. That’s down from a profit after tax of $2.9bn in the first quarter of 2019.
Follow in more detail on our business live blog.
Updated
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, has laid off 5,000 staff amid the coronavirus crisis, AFP reports.
#BREAKING SAS airline lays off 5,000 staff amid #coronavirus crisis pic.twitter.com/qwjPkgFGbC
— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 28, 2020
Parents should be vigilant about a severe inflammatory disease among infants that some medics fear may have a link to Covid-19, a junior British interior minister said on Tuesday.
“It demonstrates just how fast moving this virus is and how unprecedented it is in its effect,” Victoria Atkins MP told Sky News.
“The chief medical officer has said that it’s extremely rare but we must all be watching very carefully through this virus,” she said.
Italian and British medical experts are investigating a possible link between the coronavirus pandemic and clusters of what appears to be Kawasaki disease, a severe inflammatory disease, among infants who are arriving in hospital with high fevers and swollen arteries.
China has criticised as “unfair and irresponsible” India’s decision to stop using Chinese testing kits for Covid-19 because of quality issues, in the latest strain in ties between the countries.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, the top agency dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, said on Monday it planned to return kits for antibody tests procured from two Chinese firms because of poor accuracy.
The Chinese embassy said it was deeply concerned by the Indian decision and Chinese authorities had validated the equipment produced by the two firms, Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics.
“It is unfair and irresponsible for certain individuals to label Chinese products as ‘faulty’ and look at issues with preemptive prejudice,” embassy spokeswoman Ji Rong said in a statement.
The Chinese companies had exported equipment to several countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America without any problem, she said.
The diplomatic flap comes days after China criticised an Indian decision to step up scrutiny of investments from neighbouring countries, seen as a move to stave off opportunistic takeovers by Chinese firms during the coronavirus outbreak.
India ordered more than half a million Chinese kits for testing for antibodies to the coronavirus this month as a way to boost its screening, among the lowest per capita in the world.
The antibody tests taken from blood samples do not always pick up early-stage infections but show whether a person had the virus in the past, even if the person had no symptoms.
In comparison, the standard swab test determines whether a person has the virus at that moment by looking for it in secretions.
Several Indian states said the Chinese tests had produced conflicting results.
Updated
Three hundred thousand coronavirus masks sent to pregnant women in Japan as part of a government handout have been found to be faulty, media reports said, the latest in a string of complaints about how the government has dealt with the pandemic.
The efforts of prime minister Shinzo Abe’s government to distribute protective cloth masks in its fight against the coronavirus have been marred by complaints about mould, insects and stains in a number of the masks handed out so far.
Just days after it began supplying every household with two washable, reusable masks at a total cost of $430m, complaints emerged of soiled or defective products, many of them from pregnant women.
By Tuesday, the number of defective masks distributed to pregnant women had risen to 300,000 out of 500,000, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The masks are being sent out in order of priority, with pregnant women and care homes for the disabled at the head of the list, though private households in Tokyo are also starting to receive theirs.
The health ministry was not immediately available for comment, but the health minister, Katsunobu Katō, told a Tuesday news conference the safety of all the masks would be verified.
Updated
Austria's lockdown to be lifted at end of April
General lockdown measures in Austria will expire on 30 April, said the country’s health minister, Rudolf Anschober.
He said gatherings of up to 10 people will be allowed, and the main requirement for the public will be to respect distancing rules.
Updated
Kim Jong-un may have missed a key holiday on 15 April because of concerns over the coronavirus, not because he is ill, South Korea’s minister for North Korean affairs said on Tuesday.
The North Korean leader’s absence from public ceremonies on the birth anniversary of his grandfather and founder of the country, Kim Il-sung, was unprecedented, and he has not been seen in public since. That has led to days of speculation over his health.
South Korean officials emphasise they have detected no unusual movements in North Korea and have cautioned against reports that Kim may be ill.
North Korea has said it has no confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but given the fact that the country has taken stringent steps to head off an outbreak, Kim’s absence from the ceremonies is not particularly unusual, unification minister Kim Yeon-chul, who oversees North Korea engagement, told lawmakers.
He said at a parliamentary hearing
It is true that he had never missed the anniversary for Kim Il-sung’s birthday since he took power, but many anniversary events including celebrations and a banquet had been cancelled because of coronavirus concerns.
He said there were at least two instances since mid-January where Kim Jong-un was out of sight for nearly 20 days. “I don’t think that’s particularly unusual given the current (coronavirus) situation.”
The US president, Donald Trump, said on Monday he has a good idea how Kim Jong-un is doing and hopes he is fine, but would not elaborate.
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said he was aware of reports on Kim’s health and he was was paying close attention to developments.
North Korea had cancelled some large events, and imposed a border lockdown and quarantine measures in an effort to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus.
But if Kim Jong-un is hiding out due to fears surrounding Covid-19, it would “puncture a hole in the state media narrative of how this crisis has been perfectly managed”, said Chad O’Carroll, CEO of Korea Risk Group, which monitors North Korea.
Updated
Hello everyone, it’s Jessica Murray here, I’ll be taking you through coronavirus developments across the globe for the next few hours.
As always I’m keen to hear your experiences and observations - send them through to jessica.murray@theguardian.com / @journojess_ on Twitter, and I’ll do my best to respond to as many as I can.
In the Chinese city of Wuhan, a laboratory has rejected claims it was the origin of the coronavirus pandemic.
The head of the lab told Reuters the claims have no basis in fact, adding there were still no conclusive answers as to where the disease started.
Conspiracy theorists have claimed Covid-19, now responsible for more than 200,000 deaths worldwide, was synthesised by the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), based in the city where the disease was first identified.
Though the scientific consensus is that the coronavirus evolved naturally, such claims have gained traction.
The US president, Donald Trump, said on 15 April that his government was investigating whether it had originated in the Wuhan lab.
Yuan Zhiming, professor at WIV and the director of its National Biosafety Laboratory, said “malicious” claims about the lab had been “pulled out of thin air” and contradicted all available evidence.
“The WIV does not have the intention and the ability to design and construct a new coronavirus,” he said in written responses to questions from Reuters. “Moreover, there is no information within the SARS-CoV-2 genome indicating it was manmade.”
Some conspiracy theories were fuelled by a widely read scientific paper from the Indian Institute of Technology, since withdrawn, claiming that proteins in the coronavirus shared an “uncanny similarity” with those of HIV.
However, most scientists now say Covid-19 originated in wildlife, with bats and pangolins identified as possible host species.
“More than 70% of emerging infectious diseases originated from animals, especially wild animals,” Yuan said.
“In recent years, we have seen increasing risks posed by close contact between humans and wild animals, with global climate change and the continuous expansion of human activities,” he said.
All seven known human coronaviruses have origins in bats, mice or domestic animals, scientists say.
Yuan also rejected theories that the lab had accidentally released a coronavirus it had harvested from bats for research purposes, saying the lab’s biosecurity procedures were strictly enforced.
“High-level biosafety labs have sophisticated protective facilities and strict measures to ensure the safety of laboratory staff and protect the environment from contamination,” he said.
With that, I’ll hand over to my colleague Jessica Murray.
Thanks for following along and stay safe.
The Sun has “Turning the tide” alongside “Boris back at last”
The Sun front page #Newspapers #FrontPage #News pic.twitter.com/a4l1xMBxve
— The Papers UK (@ThePapersUK) April 28, 2020
And the Financial Times has “Sunak commits to shield economy from ‘cold turkey’ jobless surge”, leading on the plan to “wind-down the furlough scheme”.
Financial Times front page #Newspapers #FrontPage #News pic.twitter.com/8du7Mjjt0K
— The Papers UK (@ThePapersUK) April 28, 2020
Here’s the Guardian’s front page:
Guardian front page, 28 April 2020: No 10 in talks to allay public fears over end to lockdown pic.twitter.com/SOVkJ3uvqj
— The Guardian (@guardian) April 27, 2020
The Telegraph has “Time to fire up the engines”
The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph:
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 27, 2020
'Time to fire up the engines, says PM'#TomorrowsPapersToday #coronavirusuk #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/MbDt5h33OQ
While The Times has “We’re moving to the second phase of battle”.
The Times front page #Newspapers #FrontPage #News pic.twitter.com/ciwJmbQEo3
— The Papers UK (@ThePapersUK) April 28, 2020
And as the UK and Europe wake up, here are some of today’s front pages.
The Independent has “Johnson steps back into the office” as well as “Operations cancelled to be restored”
Tomorrow's @independent front page #tomorrowspaperstoday To subscribe to the Daily Edition: https://t.co/XF8VnDpHYF pic.twitter.com/jEPlN6slaS
— The Independent (@Independent) April 28, 2020
The Daily Mail has “Doctors’ PPE desperation”
Tuesday’s Daily Mail: “Doctors’ PPE Desperation” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday (via @AllieHBNews) pic.twitter.com/TVfV8jR3e2
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 27, 2020
Thailand has reported seven new coronavirus cases and two deaths, bringing the total death toll to 54 and total number of infections to 2,938.
2,652 people have recovered from the disease, the government said.
We should add that the Australian app does not track your location, or access your GPS. It exchanges Bluetooth handshakes with other phones with the app if you are near them for 15 minutes.
My colleague Josh Taylor has a full explainer here.
In Australia, the federal police have been called in to investigate a potential hoax about the country’s new coronavirus tracking app.
The Australian government yesterday released its contact tracing app, called Covidsafe, which is based on Singapore’s.
However, an image has been circulating on social media that claims to show a text from the app – telling the user they’ve been detected venturing outside their home and have 15 minutes to provide an excuse.
Crucially, it’s not clear if the hoax text has actually been sent as a text to people’s phones, or it is a photoshop.
Regardless, Australia’s health minister Greg Hunt said today it had been referred to the Australian Federal Police.
“That investigation has begun, and anybody who is found responsible will be charged with a significant criminal offence,” he said.
“To have a few people, or it may just be one person, who are doing something contrary to the public health messages, this isn’t a game. This is about life and death. This is about saving lives and protecting lives.”
“The more people that are able to download and register, the more people who will be protected against inadvertently contracting a life-threatening disease,” he said.
Summary so far
- Donald Trump has said the US will conduct “serious investigations” into China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and could pursue the country for billions in damages because China “could have stopped” the coronavirus.
- He also claimed that he had “a very good idea” about the health of Kim Jong-un, but “can’t talk about it now”. The president added that he “wishes [the North Korean leader] well”.
- Trump also said he does not take responsibility for reports that people have may ingested disinfectant after his recent comments on its effectiveness.
- The head of the Japan Medical Authority said it would be “difficult” to hold the Olympics, even after it was delayed until 2021, unless a vaccine is developed.
- New Zealand has partially relaxed restrictions and said that 75% of the economy is now operational as 1 million people return to work and restaurants open for takeaway.
- More than 2,200 Indonesians may have died from Covid-19, without being recorded in official death totals, according to a Reuters analysis.
- China has reported six new coronavirus cases and no deaths.
- Australia’s Bondi Beach has reopened as the state of New South Wales said it would partially ease restrictions by Friday.
Updated
Germany has recorded 163 new deaths from Covid-19 and 1,144 new infections, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases
The total death toll is now at 5,913 and total cases at 156,337.
In Nigeria, authorities have denied that Covid-19 is responsible for a surge in deaths from pneumonia.
Doctors in Kano in the country’s north-west have reported a rise in fatal cases of pneumonia, but authorities have blaming malaria, meningitis, hypertension and other illnesses.
In non-coronavirus news, the Pentagon has released footage of US Navy pilots encountering three unidentified flying objects.
The videos were previously leaked, and show encounters from 2004 and 2015. The Pentagon said they released them to “to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real or whether or not there is more to the videos” .
The video, and a full story is here:
The UN’s humanitarian affairs chief has said that the full impact of the pandemic has not yet hit the world’s poorest, but will in the next three to six months.
Mark Lowcock said in a video briefing that it would cost $90bn to provide income support, food and health care to 700 million vulnerable people.
He said two-thirds of the $90bn could come from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and the remaining third could be financed by a one-off increase in development assistance.
The $90bn would be only 1 percent of the total combined stimulus packages that the world’s 20 richest countries have already put in place.
“$90 billion is a lot of money but it is an affordable sum of money”, he said.
Updated
The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has said that the economic impact from the coronavirus will worsen in future, Reuters also reports.
That’s after the pandemic already pushed South Korea’s economy in the first quarter into its biggest contraction since 2008.
In Hong Kong, leader Carrie Lam has said most civil servants will gradually return to work from May 4, Reuters reports.
Hong Kong has reported no new infections for the second day in a row, and Lam said said outdoor sports facilities, libraries and museums would also reopen from Monday although they would still be subject to a ban on gatherings of more than four people.
But the government had not yet decided whether to ease travel and social distancing restrictions that are due to expire next week.
A key consideration for Lam will also be whether to ease cross-border travel restrictions with mainland China.
Hong Kong has confirmed 1,038 cases and four deaths since the outbreak began in January.
And here is our piece for Australians in NSW on what the relaxed restrictions (from Friday) will mean:
And here is our fuller report on the latest odds of the Tokyo Olympics going ahead
On Monday, Tokyo saw the number of daily confirmed cases drop below 100 for two days in a row, with 72 cases reported on Sunday and 39 on Monday, public broadcaster NHK said. The numbers of cases reported at the weekends and on Mondays tend to be lower because some testing facilities are not open throughout the week. Tokyo has reported almost 4,000 infections, by far the highest number among Japan’s 47 prefectures.
China has reversed its tighter export controls on testing kits and other medical items, Caixin Global is reporting.
For several month Chinese suppliers have been selling equipment to international buyers, or providing to the Chinese government to donate to other countries.
After a few incidents of equipment not meeting standards, the Chinese government required Covid-19 test kits to be approved by the National Medical Products Administration and registered before they were exported.
Now, according the report, exported products are now only required to meet the receiving country’s product standards. The new rule also applies to medical masks, scrubs, ventilators and infrared thermometers.
In early April, China banned the export of equipment which didn’t meet its own standards, by requiring a domestic licence, but some manufacturers reportedly complained this was too difficult.
The tight restrictions came after a series of controversial shipments which failed to meet international standards, including more than half a million facemasks which the Netherlands bought, more than 1.2m testing kits the Slovak government bought, and 50,000 which Spain bought.
And here’s the video of Trump’s comments from earlier:
The head of the Japan Medical Association has added his voice to speculation that the Tokyo Olympics, now due to be held next summer, could again be affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Unless an effective vaccine is developed I think it will be difficult to hold the Olympics next year,” JMA president Yoshitake Yokokura told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
“I’m not saying at this point that they shouldn’t be held. The outbreak is not only confined to Japan ... it’s a worldwide issue.”
Several health experts have cast doubt on plans to hold the Games next July and August. Last week, Kentaro Iwata, a specialist in infectious diseases, said he thought it “unlikely” that the Games would be held just over a year from now.
“I am very pessimistic about holding the Olympic Games next summer unless you hold the Olympic Games in a totally different structure such as no audience, or a very limited participation,” he said.
Japan’s organisers and the International Olympic Committee [IOC] agreed in March to postpone the Games by a year as the coronavirus spread across the globe. They have since said there is no “Plan B’’ other than working for the Olympics to open on July 23, 2021.
But IOC member John Coates, who is overseeing preparations of the Tokyo Olympics, said this month it was still “too early to say” if the outbreak could further impact the Games.
There are growing fears of coronavirus spreading through Latin America’s crowded prisons after photos were released over the weekend of inmates in El Salvador packed tightly together during a search.
Associated Press reported that “authorities crammed prisoners albeit wearing masks tightly together in prison yards while searching their cell.”
This was after president Nayib Bukele ordered the crackdown after more than 20 people were murdered in the country Friday and intelligence suggested the orders came from imprisoned gang leaders.
In Chile, the Puente Alto prison in downtown Santiago has more than 300 reported cases among 1,100 inmates.
In the Dominican Republic, more than 5,500 inmates were tested at the La Victoria prison, with at least 239 testing positive.
75% of New Zealand economy re-opens
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern is speaking now about the country’s lifting of its most extreme restrictions.
Today, 400,000 Kiwis will return to work, and takeaway food services will re-open.
But she said that New Zealanders should be more cautious than ever, due to the virus’s incubation period
“It can take from two to 10 days for people to have been exposed to Covid-19 to come down with symptoms. That means we would not smell the smoke for a few weeks and that could put us back where we started before the lockdown.
“With more people going back to work today, we need to be even more vigilant.”
“Level three will see 400,000 more New Zealanders back at work, taking the total to 1 million Kiwis working. At level three, 75% of the economy is working, with building and construction, forestry, manufacturing and contactless retail starting up, major infrastructure projects start again today.”
More than 2,000 unreported Indonesian deaths
More than 2,200 Indonesians have died from Covid-19, but were not recorded, according to an investigation from Reuters.
The official death toll from the virus in the country is 765, but the new figures would make Indonesia the worst-hit Asian country after China.
Reuters reporters Tom Allard and Kate Lamb said they reviewed data from 16 of the country’s 34 provinces.
The most current data from the 16 provinces shows there were 2,212 deaths of patients under supervision because they have acute coronavirus symptoms. Indonesia’s health ministry uses the acronym PDP to classify these patients when there is no other clinical explanation for their symptoms.
The data is collated by provincial agencies daily or weekly from figures supplied by hospitals, clinics and officials overseeing burials. It was obtained by Reuters by checking websites, talking to provincial officials and reviewing World Health Organization (WHO) reports.
The 16 provinces account for more than three quarters of the country’s 260 million population.
A senior member of the government’s Covid-19 taskforce, Wiku Adisasmito, did not dispute the Reuters findings but declined to comment on the number of coronavirus victims he believed were to be found among the patients classified as PDP.
He said many of the 19,897 suspected coronavirus sufferers in Indonesia had not been tested because of long queues of specimens awaiting processing at under-staffed laboratories. Some people had died before their sample was analysed, he said.
“I believe the vast majority of PDP deaths were caused by COVID-19,” said Pandu Riono, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, citing their COVID-19 symptoms and that there was no other identified cause of death.
In Canada, just under half of people surveyed have said they would “have reservations” about sitting next to an Asian person on a bus, reports The Star.
The poll, commissioned after a series of attacks on people of Chinese or Asian appearance, found 20% of Canadians surveyed thought it was “not safe at all” to sit next to an Asian person on a bus, and an additional 24% were “uncertain”.
Taiwan has thanked the US for lobbying for it to be included in the World Health Organization, Reuters reports.
In a teleconference, Taiwan’s health minister, Chen Shih-chung, thanked the US secretary of health, Alex Azar “for the strong support extended by the United States for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO”.
Direct, public interactions between ministerial-level officials from Taiwan and the United States are unusual as the two do not have official diplomatic ties/
The United States, like most countries, only has formal relations with Beijing, though it is Taiwan’s strongest backer on the international stage.
China reports 6 new cases and zero new deaths
China has reported 6 new coronavirus cases (3 domestic and 3 from overseas) and no deaths, according to the country’s National Health Commission.
That is up from 3 new cases total in mainland China yesterday.
Three of the new cases were from Heilongjiang province and three were from returned travellers, according to the department.
There were also 40 new asymptomatic cases, where people tested positive but had no symptoms, up from 25 new yesterday.
The total number of cases in mainland China now stands at 82,836, and deaths at 4,633.
And in New Zealand, the country’s director general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield reacted yesterday to Trump’s comments on bleach with nothing but silence.
Pime minister Jacinda Ardern said they had not received any reports of Kiwis ingesting bleach, meaning that “no New Zealander has listened to or given any credence to that suggestion.”
Dr Ashley Bloomfield 's response to the President's suggestion for Covid-19 treatment - absolutely priceless 😂 pic.twitter.com/pQZQPxLkDn
— Aimee (@Kiwi_things) April 27, 2020
Argentina passes 4,000 cases and extends lockdown
Argentina hit a new high of confirmed coronavirus cases when it overtook the four thousand mark Monday. With 111 new cases reported, the country’s total reached 4,003 infected persons and 197 deaths so far.
The national lockdown, which started 20 March, has been extended until 10 May, although one-hour outings within a five-block radius of homes will be allowed in a large part of the country.
The exceptions are the capital city of Buenos Aires, the Greater Buenos Aires area and the main cities of Córdoba and Santa Fe, where the majority of Argentina’s population lives and where the largest number of cases are concentrated. The city of Buenos Aires leads with 34% of reported cases and the province of Buenos Aires with 26%.
Buenos Aires city authorities say the lockdown in their area will probably remain total until the end of May at least given the continued growth of cases in Argentina’s capital.
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In his press conference earlier, US president Donald Trump also suggested that he would want to seek damages from China over their handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Trump was asked about a recent German newspaper editorial calling on China to pay Germany $165 billion. Asked if the US would consider doing the same, he said “we can do something much easier than that.”
“Germany is looking at things, we are looking at things,” he said. “We are talking about a lot more money than Germany’s talking about.”
“We haven’t determined the final amount yet,” Trump said. “It’s very substantial.
“This is worldwide damage,” he said. “This is damage to the US, but this is damage to the world.”
Some more images of happy beachgoers returning to Bondi Beach in Australia.
New Zealand has ended its strictest lockdown phase and entered Level 3, with 400,000 Kiwis returning to work, takeaways open, and fishing, surfing and swimming permitted.
Local media reported lines outside McDonald’s drive-through from 3am on Tuesday morning, and by 10am the food app Regulr – which many local cafes and restaurants are using to allow pick-ups – had crashed nationwide.
Fast-food chains such as Dominos and Hells Pizza have warned customers to expect signficant delays as demand surges, and hired hundreds of extra employees to cope with the rush, and deliver food.
NZ Domino’s general manager Cameron Toomey said “zero contact delivery”, more frequent hygiene and sanitisation practices, and physical distancing and temperature testing were now underway in all their stores, and essential workers would have priorities for pizza.
Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, has announced it will start easing its lockdown restrictions from Friday.
Currently, social visits to friends and family are not allowed, unless you already live in the same house. From Friday, up to two adults will be able to visit another household.
“Two adults will be able to go and visit anybody else in their home on the basis of care, on the basis of reducing social isolation and everybody’s mental health,” the state’s premier, Gladys Berejiklian said.
However, people should still practice physical distancing and not visit friends if they were sick or even had “the mildest sniffle,” she said.
Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach also re-opened today, after weeks of closures due to overcrowding.
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And seeming to add to his criticism of China, Trump said that the response to coronavirus had led to “so much unnecessary death”. “It could have been stopped and it could have been stopped [faster] but someone a long time ago decided not to do it that way.”
Trump says he knows Kim Jong Un's health status and "hopes he's fine"
Trump also claimed that he had “a very good idea” about the health of Kim Jong Un and said he wishes him well.
The US president was asked if he had any information about the North Korean leader’s health. He said: “I can’t tell you exactly. Yes, I do have a very good idea but I can’t talk about it now. I just wish him well.
“I hope he’s fine. I do know how he’s doing relatively speaking. We will see – you’ll probably be hearing in the not too distant future.”
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In that latest US briefing, the Trump also announced an 8-part plan for increasing testing.
He introduced the chief executive of pharmacy chain CVS Health, who said it would expand testing to 1,000 of its 10,000 stores.
Hello and welcome to today’s rolling global coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s Naaman Zhou here, bringing you the latest.
Donald Trump has just given a White House briefing after an absence over the weekend, following his controversial remarks on Friday about injecting disinfectant. In a combative briefing, he said he “does not” take responsibility for reports that people have may have followed his suggestions which were universally discredited by medical experts.
Trump also hit out at China, saying Beijing could have stopped the virus at its source and said his administration was conducting “serious investigations” into what happened: “We’re doing very serious investigations ... We are not happy with China,” he said.
In other news, the World Health Organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says that the agency sounded the highest level of alarm over the novel coronavirus early on, but that not all countries heeded its advice: “The world should have listened to WHO then, carefully,” he said.
Other key developments over the past few hours include:
- The number of people confirmed to have coronavirus has passed 3 million according to Johns Hopkins University, with 207,583 deaths globally.
- Switzerland and Nigeria say they will begin easing its restrictions.
- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said he is concerned about people missing vaccines for diseases such as polio and measles because of the coronavirus pandemic.
- UK hospital deaths rose by 360, taking the total to 21,902.
- Mexico’s president declared the country had “tamed” its coronavirus outbreak, despite widespread suspicions that Covid-19 cases are being undercounted.
- WhatsApp claims to have cut viral messages by 70% after introducing a limit on the number of people to whom users could forward messages.
- Afghanistan has recorded its biggest one-day rise in cases, triggered by a continued surge of transmission in Kandahar.
- And Sydney’s Bondi Beach has reopened again, after it was shut for being too crowded.
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