- World Health Organisation chief defends against criticism; UN General Assembly approves coronavirus resolution
- Virgin Australia collapses; Germany’s Oktoberfest 2020 cancelled
Germany and other parts of Europe took tentative steps to ease lockdown measures as more countries saw death rates from the coronavirus fall, but officials warned the battle against the pandemic was far from over.
The World Health Organisation also defended its handling of the crisis against scathing criticism from Washington and others, with its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisting the UN body had been warning against the virus "from day one".
The WHO chief also warned that "the worst is yet ahead of us" in the coronavirus outbreak, reviving the alarm just as many countries ease restrictive measures aimed at reducing its spread.
Tedros did not specify why he believes the outbreak that has infected almost 2.5 million people and killed more than 170,000 could get worse. He and others, however, have previously pointed to the likely future spread of the illness through Africa, where health systems are far less developed.
"Trust us. The worst is yet ahead of us," Tedros told reporters from WHO headquarters in Geneva. "Let's prevent this tragedy. It's a virus that many people still do not understand."
Germany, which has been hailed for keeping fatalities low despite a significant number of cases, allowed smaller shops to reopen in some regions, but cancelled its famous Oktoberfest beer festival.
In the United States, which has more than 787,000 confirmed infections and 42,000 deaths, some are increasingly chafing under stay-at-home orders and are taking to the streets to protest.
Anti-lockdown demonstrations over the weekend drew hundreds of people in several states, including Colorado, Texas, Maryland, New Hampshire and Ohio.
President Donald Trump fuelled another bout of fury over the weekend by lending support to the protests against the lockdown restrictions " which medical experts say save countless lives.
Here are the developments:
Singapore sees 1,111 new cases, extends 'circuit breaker' measures
Singapore's Ministry of Health on Tuesday confirmed 1,111 new cases of Covid-19, taking the city state's overall number of infections to 9,125, the highest in Southeast Asia.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also announced that Singapore would extend its partial lockdown by four weeks to June 1, saying the country needed to hunker down and press on with social distancing measures, termed a "circuit breaker", to stop the outbreak from spreading.
Infections linked to migrant worker dormitories now make up close to 80 per cent of all coronavirus cases in Singapore. Rights groups have said the dormitories have highlighted a weak link in Singapore's containment effort, which has otherwise won global plaudits. And critics say such mass quarantines could increase the risk of infection in the blocks.
On Tuesday, a senior World Health Organisation official said that despite facing "very difficult challenges" from a surge in infections, Singapore was in a good position to manage the outbreak.
Coronavirus most likely came from animals
The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that all available evidence suggests that the novel coronavirus originated in bats in China late last year and it was not manipulated or constructed in a lab, after the US said last week it was trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, China.
"All available evidence suggests the virus has an animal origin and is not manipulated or constructed virus in a lab or somewhere else," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a Geneva news briefing. "It is probable, likely that the virus is of animal origin."
It was not clear how the virus had jumped the species barrier to humans but there had "certainly" been an intermediate animal host, she added.
WHO vehicle attacked in Myanmar, driver killed
A World Health Organisation vehicle carrying swabs from patients to be tested for coronavirus came under attack in Myanmar's Rakhine state and the driver was killed, the United Nations office in the country said on Tuesday.
It said in a Facebook post it was "deeply saddened" to confirm that Pyae Song Win Maung, 28, had died in Minbya township in Rakhine state. The passenger, a health worker, was wounded.
"The WHO colleague was driving a marked UN vehicle from Sittwe to Yangon transporting Covid-19 surveillance samples in support of the Ministry of Health and Sports," it said.
It did not say who carried out the attack. Rakhine has been the scene of bitter fighting between the government and the Arakan Army, an ethnic guerilla group fighting for autonomy in Rakhine State. Each side blamed the other for the Monday attack.
United Nations approves virus resolution
The United Nations General Assembly has approved a resolution calling for global action to rapidly scale up development, manufacturing and access to medicine, vaccines and medical equipment to confront the coronavirus pandemic.
The Mexican-drafted resolution requests Secretary-General Antonio Guterres work with the World Health Organisation and recommend options to ensure timely and equitable access to testing, medical supplies, drugs and future coronavirus vaccines for all in need, especially in developing countries.
It reaffirms the fundamental role of the United Nations system in coordinating the global response to control and contain the spread of Covid-19 and in supporting the 193 UN member states, "and in this regard acknowledges the crucial leading role played by the World Health Organisation".
General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande sent a letter to the 193 UN member states Monday night saying there were no objections to the resolution and it was therefore adopted.
It is the second resolution on Covid-19 approved by the world body. On April 2, the General Assembly approved a resolution recognising "the unprecedented effects" of the pandemic and calling for "intensified international cooperation to contain, mitigate and defeat" the virus.
Coronavirus: Trump says he'll 'suspend immigration' into the US
China reports 48 new cases
China on Tuesday reported 48 new coronavirus infections on the mainland, 11 of which involved individuals displaying symptoms with the remainder showing none.
The National Health Commission said in its daily report that overall confirmed cases on the mainland now stand at 82,758, with 4,632 deaths from the virus that causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease. No new deaths were recorded Monday.
Imported cases accounted for just six of the new infection cases, including four with symptoms.
Six of the seven domestically transmitted cases among those newly confirmed with symptoms were reported in Heilongjiang Province, a northeastern province on the border with Russia which has become the epicentre of a second wave of infections in China.
The province also detected 10 additional infections on Monday, including six new locally transmitted but asymptomatic cases.
In the past 10 days, Heilongjiang has reported 52 symptomatic infections, accounting for 68 per cent of the locally transmitted cases during the period.
Indonesia blocks Muslims going home after fast
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday announced he would ban the mass exodus of Muslims to their villages at the end of the fasting month.
Indonesian media reported the president said he took this step after evaluating a number of studies that estimated large numbers of people would still make the trip to mark the Idul-Fitri festival set to take place in end-May.
A survey by the Katada Insight Centre showed 18.3 million people returned to their home villages last year and even with advisories urging people to remain in place, the number of travellers could reach 3 million.
The fasting month of Ramadan begins later this week. Mosques in the capital Jakarta, with about half of Indonesia's 6,760 coronavirus infections, have been closed and religious authorities have urged Indonesians against holding mass prayer sessions or breaking their fasts together.
Germany's Oktoberfest cancelled
Germany's Oktoberfest, the world's largest folk festival, where revellers from all over the world gather to swig large quantities of beer, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis, the southern state of Bavaria said on Tuesday.
Around six million partygoers gather every year in Munich for the two-week long festivities, held in packed tents with long wooden tables and oompah bands, which makes more than Euro1 billion (US$1.08 billion) for the city.
"We have decided the risk is simply too great," state premier Markus Soeder said. "It hurts, it is a huge shame," he added.
This year's Oktoberfest had been expected to take place from September 19 to October 4.
Some areas in Germany have started to relax lockdown measures introduced last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but big events are banned until August 31.
The festivities go back to 1810 when the first Oktoberfest was held in honour of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig's marriage. The celebrations lasted six days, ending in a horse race and since then the party has been repeated, prolonged and brought forward into September.
These days the festivities tend to turn rowdy in the evenings as drinkers sing along to the bands while devouring sausages and pretzels. Many foreign tourists cannot stomach the large quantities of specially brewed beer.
Running of the bulls in Spain cancelled
Spain's famous annual San Fermin bull-running festival has been cancelled in July due to the coronavirus crisis, the local authority said on Tuesday.
"As expected as it was, it still leaves us deeply sad," said acting mayor Ana Elizalde in a statement from the local Pamplona town hall.
The festival, which draws thousands of participants and was made famous in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, has seldom been cancelled in its history.
British virus death toll higher than reported
Official statistics show that at least 1,500 more people with the new coronavirus have died in Britain than the 16,500 whose deaths have been announced by the government.
The Office for National Statistics said 1,043 deaths in nursing homes in England and Wales up to April 10 involved Covid-19, with 826 of those deaths recorded in the final week of that period. More than 500 other people died in hospices and private homes.
Those are not included in the UK government's daily total, which only includes deaths in hospitals.
The figures show that the total number of deaths in the week to April 10 " 18,516 " was the highest weekly total in 20 years. About a third of all deaths involved the coronavirus.
The British government is under pressure to include nursing-home deaths in its daily coronavirus figures amid fears the number is being under-reported.
Spain's deaths increase slightly
New deaths attributed to the new coronavirus in Spain are slightly up again on Tuesday, with 430 fatalities that bring the total death toll to 21,282 from a 4-week low of 399 daily deaths on Monday.
Spain reported nearly 4,000 new infections to a total of 204,178, a 2 per cent day-to-day increase in line with the average for the past four days, health ministry data showed.
The government is assessing already how to roll back one of Europe's strictest lockdowns, starting from next Monday by allowing children to go out onto the streets for brief periods. Spain's centre-left Cabinet is discussing details on how the measure will be implemented during Tuesday's weekly meeting.
An 8-week survey of 30,000 households that will be tested for the new virus is also expected to roll out on April 27, allowing authorities to gauge what's the level of immunisation beyond hospitals and nursing homes, where testing has focused during the peak of the pandemic.
Italy to start reopening on May 4
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday confirmed that Italy can start reopening on May 4, but he doused any hopes of a total loosening of some of the strictest lockdown measures in a western democracy.
"Many citizens are tired of the efforts that have been made so far and would like a significant loosening of these measures, or even their total abolition," Conte said in a Facebook post, adding that "a decision of that kind would be irresponsible".
Conte indicated that moves to relax the restrictions would be announced by the end of the week, and that they would take into account the different circumstances among regions.
Italy's north, hardest-hit by the virus and the country's economic engine, has been straining to restart industry after a shutdown of non-essential manufacturing on March 26 " even as some have received permission to reopen with a much-reduced workforce in recent days.
On Monday, Italy reported its first symbolic drop in the number of people currently suffering from the novel coronavirus since it recorded its first infection in February, saying 108,237 people were either being treated in hospital or were recovering at home after testing positive " down 20 from the total reported on Sunday. The death toll rose by 454 to 24,114 " second only to the United States.
Unrest in locked-down Paris
French police are facing a modest uptick of unrest in the oft-troubled suburbs of the locked-down capital, making a small number of arrests after fires were set and fireworks lobbed to shatter the calm imposed by stay-home measures to counter the coronavirus.
A scattering of vehicle and trash-can blazes and firework explosions on the outskirts of Paris this week have so far been far milder than previous outbreaks of violence. But the renewed tensions are also a reminder of policing difficulties that have long simmered in troubled neighbourhoods of the city, before the virus lockdown forced most people indoors.
Paris police said officers arrested nine people in two suburbs overnight, suspected of either possessing fireworks or gathering together to commit violence.
The French lockdown, in place since March 17, has been particularly tough for families jammed together in small apartments in the poorer Paris suburbs. The stay-home orders and police patrols to enforce them have also disrupted underground economies that are centred around drug-dealing and other crime in unruly projects.
Girls take to rooftop tennis amid lockdown
Two young girls in Italy took their tennis games to a higher level despite a nationwide coronavirus lockdown as they staged a remarkable rally from the rooftops of neighbouring buildings.
The girls in the Ligurian town of Finale Ligure coolly managed a 12-shot rally featuring forehands and backhands during a 24-second video posted on Facebook last Friday by a local tennis club where the two are members.
Max Oliveri, whose daughter Vittoria is one of the rooftop players along with Carola Pessina, told Reuters he captured the footage because her coach asked players to share video of their training at home.
Naturally, a few balls during the practice session did not make it across and bounced down into a private road below where the girls' fathers put them in plastic bags their daughters had affixed to the end of fishing poles.
Just incredible to seeLiguria, Italy | #tennisathome pic.twitter.com/dh8bqlvFhj
" ATP Tour (@atptour) April 18, 2020
Virgin Australia collapses under coronavirus strain
Cash-strapped airline Virgin Australia announced it had gone into voluntary administration on Tuesday, making it the largest airline to collapse under the shock of the coronavirus outbreak.
In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), Virgin said it planned to keep operating flights despite handing over the keys to administrators.
The airline was more than A$5 billion (US$3.2 billion) in debt and had appealed for an A$1.4 billion loan to stay afloat, but the government refused to bail out the majority foreign-owned company.
The airline said four insolvency experts from accounting firm Deloitte had been appointed as administrators.
Virgin had already stood down 8,000 of its 10,000 staff, suspended all international routes and scrapped all bar one of its domestic routes after Australia shut its borders to limit the spread of Covid-19 and imposed tough restrictions on movement.
Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group, which owns a 10-percent stake in the airline, tweeted a message in support of the Virgin Australia team.
US university stops using Chinese testing kits after some contaminated
Facebook removes anti-quarantine protest events
Facebook said that it has removed events in Nebraska, New Jersey and California promoting protests against stay-at-home measures.
But the social media company, which has been under pressure to police harmful content and misinformation related to the pandemic, said it would only take down anti-quarantine protest events if they defied government guidelines.
Stay-at-home orders, which experts say are essential to slow the spread of the virus but which have battered the US economy, have been enacted at the state level.
Facebook said it would align with those directives, and also remove events that defy social distancing guidelines. Facebook is seeking guidance to clarify the scope of state orders in New York, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Facebook did not identify the events removed.
White House guidelines to reopen the economy recommend that a state record 14 days of declining case numbers before gradually lifting restrictions. But protests have taken on a partisan tone and on Friday, President Donald Trump appeared to encourage protesters in tweets calling to "LIBERATE" Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia, all states run by Democratic governors.
'Encouraging signs' as UK daily toll hits two-week low
The British government on Monday said there were "encouraging signs" that the coronavirus outbreak was easing but warned it was too early to lift the lockdown despite new evidence of the economic toll.
Some 16,509 people hospitalised with Covid-19 in Britain have now died, new health ministry figures showed, up by 449 " the lowest daily toll for a fortnight.
Health officials say the number of new cases is flat and figures for people in hospital in London, the epicentre of the outbreak in Britain, continue to fall.
"There are encouraging signs that we are making progress," Finance Minister Rishi Sunak told the government's daily media briefing.
But "we are not there yet and it is very clear that, for now, what we should focus on is following the guidance, staying home".
Britain went into lockdown at the end of March, with people told to stay indoors except for daily exercise and buying essentials.
Last week the measures were renewed for another three weeks, but there are concerns about the toll they are having on the economy.
France's death toll passes 20,000
France on Monday officially registered more than 20,000 deaths from the coronavirus, becoming the fourth country to pass that threshold after Italy, Spain and the United States, and the pace of increase in fatalities and infections sped up again after several days of slowing.
"The epidemic is very deadly and is far from over," France's public health chief Jerome Salomon told a news briefing, adding that the death toll was now higher than that of the heatwave in the summer of 2003.
He said the number of people in intensive care had fallen for the 12th consecutive day, to 5,683 " the lowest since March 31 " suggesting the national lockdown is having positive effects in containing the disease.
France summons Chinese ambassador after virus comments spark outrage
Another encouraging signal was a decline for the sixth day in a row in people hospitalised for Covid-19, even though the total, at 30,584 versus 30,610 on Sunday, is going down only slowly.
While France is due to start unwinding some confinement measures from May 11, Salomon insisted on the importance of strictly complying with the lockdown.
He said coronavirus-linked fatalities were up 2.8 per cent, at 20,265, after an increase of 2.0 per cent on Sunday. The number of confirmed cases increased by 1.8 per cent in France to 114,657.
Iran opens up despite fears of second wave
Iran on Monday began opening intercity motorways and major shopping centres to stimulate its sanctions-choked economy, gambling that it has brought under control its coronavirus outbreak " one of the worst in the world " even as some fear it could lead to a second wave of infections.
Stores from high-end malls to the meandering alleyways of Tehran's historic Grand Bazaar opened doors, though the government limited their working hours until 6pm. Restaurants, gyms and other locations remain closed.
Iranian state television quoted Health Ministry spokesman Kinoush Jahanpour as saying on Monday that another 91 people died of the virus, bringing the country's death toll to 5,209 amid over 83,500 confirmed cases.
Iran downplayed the crisis for weeks, even as top officials found themselves sick with the virus. The country's civilian government, led by President Hassan Rowhani, has declined to implement the 24-hour lockdowns seen in other Mideast nations.
Mafia buys food for Italy's poor to expand influence amid pandemic
Mexico drug cartels hand out virus aid
Mexico's president acknowledged on Monday that drug cartels have been handing out aid packages during the coronavirus pandemic, and called on them to stop.
President Andres Manuel LOpez Obrador said such handouts have occurred "in several places," but said the government cannot stop the practice.
"I don't want to hear them saying, 'we are handing out aid packages,'" he said. "No, better that they lay off, and think of their families, and themselves, those that are involved in these activities and who are listening to me now or watching me."
Videos posted on social media have shown one of the daughters of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman handing out boxes of rice, pasta, cooking oil and toilet paper with Guzman's image printed on them.
Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg, and Agence France-Presse
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