Diane is a perfectionist. She enjoys searching the internet for the hottest events from around the world and writing an article about it. The details matter to her, so she makes sure the information is easy to read and understand. She likes traveling and history, especially ancient history. Being a very sociable person she has a blast having barbeque with family and friends.
President Donald Trump has confirmed the White House coronavirus task force will be winding down, with Vice-President Mike Pence suggesting it could be disbanded within weeks.
He said during a visit to a mask-manufacturing factory in Arizona: “We are bringing our country back.”
New confirmed infections per day in the US currently top 20,000, and daily deaths exceed 1,000.
However, US health officials warn the virus may spread as businesses begin to reopen.
Image source Wikipedia
The US currently has 1.2 million confirmed coronavirus infections and more than 70,000 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, which is tracking the pandemic.
During a visit to the plant in Phoenix after weeks holed up at the White House, President Trump told journalists: “Mike Pence and the task force have done a great job, but we’re now looking at a little bit of a different form, and that form is safety and opening. And we’ll have a different group probably set up for that.”
President Trump – who wore safety goggles but no face mask during his tour of the facility – was asked if it was “mission accomplished”, and he said: “No, not at all. The mission accomplished is when it’s over.”
Critics have accused the president of sacrificing Americans’ public health in his eagerness to reopen the economy ahead of his re-election battle in November.
Acknowledging a human cost to the plans, President Trump told reporters: “I’m not saying anything is perfect, and yes, will some people be affected? Yes.
“Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon.”
However, it will be up to individual states to determine how they reopen.
Some Democratic governors in badly hit states have been cautious, calling for more testing and other safeguards before easing lockdowns. Other states, many led by Republicans in the south and mid-west, have already begun lifting restrictions.
The White House coronavirus task force was set up on January 29. VP Mike Pence became its chairman four weeks later and its members include more than 20 experts and leading administration officials. The White House said the task force’s duty was to “lead the administration’s efforts to monitor, contain and mitigate the spread of the virus” and provide the public with information.
President Trump’s once-daily task force briefings became increasingly scarce after he was widely condemned by the medical community for pondering at the podium last month whether injecting disinfectant might kill the virus.
President Donald Trump has suggested he has seen evidence coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory.
Earlier the US national intelligence director’s office said it was still investigating how the virus began.
However, the office said it had determined Covid-19 “was not manmade or genetically modified”.
China has rejected the lab theory and criticized the US response to Covid-19.
Since emerging in China at the end of 2019, the new coronavirus has killed 230,000 people worldwide including 63,000 in the US.
The pandemic has seen at least 3.2 million people infected, a million of them Americans, since the virus spread from the city of Wuhan.
At the White House on April 30, President Trump was asked by a reporter: “Have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?”
“Yes, I have. Yes, I have,” said President Trump, without specifying.
“And I think the World Health Organization [WHO] should be ashamed of themselves because they’re like the public relations agency for China.”
Asked later to clarify his comment, the president said: “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.”
President Trump also told reporters: “Whether they [China] made a mistake, or whether it started off as a mistake and then they made another one, or did somebody do something on purpose?
“I don’t understand how traffic, how people weren’t allowed into the rest of China, but they were allowed into the rest of the world. That’s a bad, that’s a hard question for them to answer.”
In a rare public statement, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees US spy agencies, said on April 30 it concurs with the “wide scientific consensus” regarding Covid-19’s natural origins.
The statement said: “The [intelligence community] will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”
It was the first clear response from American intelligence debunking conspiracy theories – both from the US and China – that the virus is a bio-weapon.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was founded in the 1950s, houses China’s first Biosafety Level 4 laboratory.
Such labs handle the most dangerous pathogens for which there are few available vaccines or treatments, and one of the areas the Wuhan facility studies is coronaviruses from bats.
President Trump has recently been escalating his war of words with China over the pandemic after what officials within the president’s administration had described as a truce with Beijing.
On April 29, he suggested China wanted him to lose his re-election bid in November.
President Trump has formerly accused Chinese officials of covering up the virus early on and saying they could have stopped the disease from spreading.
He has similarly criticized the WHO and withdrawn US funding for the global body.
China’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, has accused the Trump administration of trying to distract from its own problems tackling the crisis.
The US passed a grim milestone, with more than a million cases of Covid-19 recorded.
There are now 3,098,391 confirmed cases worldwide and 216,160 deaths, Johns Hopkins University says.
The House of Representatives has abandoned plans to return to Washington next week. Several states, including Georgia and Texas, have pressed ahead with plans to reopen amid the infection rise.
President Donald Trump was speaking earlier at a White House event about supporting small businesses through the coronavirus pandemic.
As he closed the event, President Trump expressed his pride at the work being done by his government and tried to compare the scale of the outbreak with the Spanish Flu pandemic.
He said: “We’re going through a period of time the likes of which we’ve never seen in this country before, certainly even if you go back into 1917 – it was the worst of all time but it was also not as bad here.
“It was very bad, it was very rough – it was a bad one. But it wasn’t quite like what we’re going through right now.”
However, the Spanish Flu pandemic happened in 1918, not 1917. It also had a far higher death toll than the coronavirus pandemic has had so far.
According to Johns Hopkins University tracking, more than 50 million people died of Spanish Flu worldwide while the current death toll from the coronavirus is about 216,000.
Some 675,000 Americans died in the 1918 pandemic, while some 58,000 are thought to have died with Covid-19.
In other developments, the organizers of the Academy Awards have announced that they will bend their own rules to let films only released on streaming platforms be eligible for nomination.
Under current rules, films have to be screened in a cinema in Los Angeles for at least seven days to qualify for awards.
On April 28, Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson said in a statement that their commitment to theatre releases was “unchanged and unwavering” but said the pandemic has made the rule change necessary.
The Academy’s new policy is only temporary while most cinemas are closed because of coronavirus.
Many scheduled movie releases have been completely delayed by the pandemic.
New Zealand has reported fewer than 1,500 confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus and 19 deaths.
The country’s Director-General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield, said the low number of new cases in recent days “does give us confidence that we have achieved our goal of elimination”.
Ashley Bloomfield warned that “elimination” did not mean there would be no new cases “but it does mean we know where our cases are coming from”.
PM Ardern said there was “no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand”, adding: “We have won that battle.”
However, the prime minister said New Zealand “must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way”.
New Zealand brought in some of the toughest restrictions in the world on travel and activity early on in the pandemic, when it only had a few dozen cases.
The country closed its borders, started enforcing quarantine of all arrivals in the country, brought in a stringent lockdown and mounted an extensive testing and contact tracing operation.
Beaches, waterfronts and playgrounds were shut on March 26, as were offices and schools. Bars and restaurants were also closed, including for takeaway and delivery.
PM Ardern said modeling indicated New Zealand could have had more than 1,000 cases a day if it had not brought in the lockdown so early.
She said New Zealand could never know how bad it would have been but that “through our cumulative actions we have avoided the worst”.
The country’s remote location and easily sealable borders played in its favor when the virus broke out, experts say.
However, the government has also been praised for the clarity of its messaging throughout the crisis.
According to recent figures from Johns Hopkins University, more than 200,000 people worldwide have now died with the coronavirus.
There are more than 2.8 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, the tally shows.
It comes after the US death toll passed 50,000, as Americans endure the world’s deadliest outbreak.
Chinese state media reported the first known death linked to the virus on January 11. More than 210 countries and territories have since reported cases.
Five countries have now reported death tolls above 20,000 although the way fatalities are counted varies widely.
The US, Spain and Italy have seen the highest number of reported fatalities.
France, which does include deaths in care homes in its statistics, said its toll had risen by 369 on April 25.
There have been 22,614 virus deaths in France since the start of March, but health officials say the mortality rate in hospitals is falling, and the number of people in intensive care has dropped for the seventeenth consecutive day.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says patients who have recovered from the virus may not be protected against re-infection.
Earlier this week, WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted upward trends in Covid-19 cases in Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America and South America.
Dr Tedros said that while most of the epidemics in Western Europe appeared to be stable or in decline, for many countries the disease was just getting started.
He said: “And some (countries) that were affected early in the pandemic are now starting to see a resurgence in cases.”
One such country is Singapore, which was initially praised for its success in containing the virus, but has since seen a surge of infections linked to industrial worksites and tightly packed worker dormitories.
Elsewhere in Asia, Chinese authorities reported no new deaths for the tenth consecutive day on April 25, and South Korea had its second day without a death.
Statisticians have cautioned that a reported death toll may not always give the full picture of a country’s epidemic.
The US has seen the most coronavirus deaths of any individual country, for example, but also has a far larger population than most.
With 330 million people, the US population exceeds the total number of people living in the five largest countries in Western Europe – the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Many European countries have reported more deaths per head of population than the US, and Europe as a whole has reported more deaths overall.
Death rates also depend on who is counted. Some countries are including deaths in care homes in their data, giving a fuller picture, whereas others only count deaths in hospital where Covid-19 has been confirmed.
American medical community has lambasted President Donald Trump for suggesting research into whether coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body.
The president also appeared to propose irradiating patients’ bodies with UV light, an idea dismissed by a doctor at the briefing.
Another of the president’s officials had moments earlier said sunlight and disinfectant were known to kill the infection.
Disinfectants are hazardous substances and can be poisonous if ingested.
Even external exposure can be dangerous to the skin, eyes and respiratory system.
During April 23 White House coronavirus task force briefing, an official presented the results of US government research that indicated coronavirus appeared to weaken more quickly when exposed to sunlight and heat.
The study also showed bleach could kill the virus in saliva or respiratory fluids within five minutes and isopropyl alcohol could kill it even more quickly.
William Bryan, acting head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, outlined the findings at the news conference.
While noting the research should be treated with caution, President Trump suggested further research in that area.
He said: “So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous – whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light.”
“And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside of the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you’re going to test that too. Sounds interesting,” he continued.
“And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?
“So it’d be interesting to check that.”
Pointing to his head, President Trump went on: “I’m not a doctor. But I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.”
The president turned to Dr. Birx and asked if she had ever heard of using “the heat and the light” to treat coronavirus.
“Not as a treatment,” she said.
“I mean, certainly, fever is a good thing. When you have a fever, it helps your body respond. But I’ve not seen heat or light.”
“I think it’s a great thing to look at,” President Trump said.
However, doctors warned the president’s idea could have fatal results.
Pulmonologist Dr. Vin Gupta told NBC News: “This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible and it’s dangerous.
“It’s a common method that people utilise when they want to kill themselves.”
John Balmes, a pulmonologist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, warned that even breathing fumes from bleach could cause severe health problems.
He told Bloomberg News: “Inhaling chlorine bleach would be absolutely the worst thing for the lungs. The airway and lungs are not made to be exposed to even an aerosol of disinfectant.
“Not even a low dilution of bleach or isopropyl alcohol is safe. It’s a totally ridiculous concept.”
President Trump has previously hyped a malaria medication, hydroxycloroquine, as a possible treatment for coronavirus, though he has stopped touting that drug recently.
This week a study of coronavirus patients in a US government-run hospital for military veterans found more deaths among those treated with hydroxychloroquine than those treated with standard care.
Applications of foreign nationals seeking permanent residence in the US will be suspended because of the coronavirus crisis, President Donald Trump said.
A day after he announced the move in an ambiguous tweet, President Trump said the measure would protect American jobs.
It is not clear how effective it will be as most visa services have already been suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Critics say President Trump is trying to distract attention away from his response to the virus. The US has nearly 45,000 deaths.
Democrats also accuse the Trump administration of using the pandemic to crack down on immigration. The issue has traditionally been a strong campaigning theme for President Trump, a Republican, but has taken a back seat during the crisis and in the lead-up to the November election.
At a White House coronavirus briefing, President Trump said the executive order with the decision was likely to be signed on April 22. The ban could be extended “much longer” depending on how the economy was doing, he said.
After vowing to suspend “all immigration” to the US on April 20, President Trump apparently changed his original plan after a backlash from some business leaders. It would reportedly impact immigrants given temporary working visas, like farm laborers and hi-tech employees.
More than 20 million Americans have lost their jobs amid the coronavirus outbreak, and President Trump said the government had a “solemn duty” to ensure they regain their jobs.
He said: “It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad.”
The president added that there could be some exemptions to the measure.
He also said: “We want to protect our US workers and I think as we move forward we will become more and more protective of them.”
President Trump’s order could spark legal challenges.
The US has the highest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the world – more than 820,000 – according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the disease globally.
Green cards give immigrants legal permanent residence in the US and the opportunity to apply for American citizenship.
In a typical year, nearly one million green cards are issued in the US. The majority – roughly 70% – go to those with relatives living in the US, according to a 2018 report from the US Senate. For employment-based green cards, a common form of the residency status, roughly 80% are issued to those already in the country, shifting from a temporary visa to permanent residence.
Spain will allow children outside after six weeks of confinement, the country’s prime minister has announced.
Spanish children have been kept at home since March 14, under strict measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Now PM Pedro Sánchez aims to relax the rule on April 27 so they can “get some fresh air”.
Meanwhile, Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, who has young children herself, this week pleaded with the government to allow children outside.
Spain has seen more than 20,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic and almost 200,000 reported cases.
In a TV briefing on April 18, PM Sánchez said Spain had left behind “the most extreme moments and contained the brutal onslaught of the pandemic”.
However, the prime minister said he would ask parliament to extend the country’s state of alarm to May 9 as the achievements made were “still insufficient and above all fragile” and could not be jeopardized by “hasty decisions”.
Another 410 deaths were reported on April 19 – fewer than the previous day. The latest death toll is well down from the peak of the pandemic, and the government allowed some non-essential workers to resume construction and manufacturing on April 13.
However, the main lockdown measures remain in place, with adults only allowed out to visit food stores and pharmacies or work considered essential. Children have been barred from going outside their homes completely.
Spain’s eight million children have already spent five weeks in confinement and there has been growing unease at the risk to their health.
The Spanish Children’s Rights Coalition has warned of mental and physical health problems for children as a result of such measures and called for boys and girls to be allowed outside to play and do some physical activity.
Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau demanded: “These children need to get out. Wait no more: Free our children!”
President Donald Trump has given governors guidance on reopening state economies in the coming months as the new coronavirus continues to spread across the US.
“Opening up America Again” guidelines outline three phases for states to gradually ease their lockdowns.
President Trump promised governors they would be handling the process themselves, with help from the federal government.
However, there has been a mixed reception to the plans, with a leading Democrat calling them vague and inconsistent.
The US currently has 699,044 confirmed cases and 36,849 deaths due to the virus, and President Trump has suggested some states could reopen this month.
In his daily briefing on April 16, the president declared “the next front in our war – opening up America again”.
He said: “America wants to be open and Americans want to be open. A national shutdown is not a sustainable long-term solution.”
The president said that a prolonged lockdown risked inflicting a serious toll on public health. He warned of a “sharp rise” in drug abuse, alcohol abuse, heart disease, and other “physical and mental” problems.
He told reporters that healthy citizens would be able to return to work “as conditions allow”. He said Americans would continue to be called upon to maintain social distancing measures and to stay home if they are unwell.
President Trump said that reopening the US economy would be done “one careful step at a time” but he called on state governors to move “very, very quickly, depending on what they want to do”.
Shortly afterwards, leading Democrat Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, called the new guidelines “vague and inconsistent”.
Nancy Pelosi said the document did “nothing to make up for the president’s failure to listen to the scientists and produce and distribute national rapid testing”.
The Trump administration’s 18-page guidance document details three phases to reopen state economies, with each phase lasting, at minimum, 14 days.
The guidelines include some recommendations across all three phases including good personal hygiene and employers developing policies to ensure social distancing, testing and contact tracing.
Phase one includes much of the current lockdown measures such as avoiding non-essential travel and not gathering in groups. But it says large venues such as restaurants, places of worship and sports venues “can operate under strict physical distancing protocols”.
If there is no evidence of a resurgence of the coronavirus, phase two allows non-essential travel to resume. The guidance says schools can reopen and bars can operate “with diminished standing-room occupancy”.
Under phase three, states which are still seeing a downward trend of symptoms and cases can allow “public interactions” with physical distancing and the unrestricted staffing of worksites. Visits to care homes and hospitals can resume and bars can increase their standing room capacity.
According to the document, some regions could begin returning to normal after a month-long evaluation period, at the earliest.
In places where there are more infections or where rates begin to rise, it could take longer.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the co-ordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, told at the April 16 briefing that as states worked through the three phases, they could allow for more and more employees to return to work in increments.
Phase three would be the “new normal”, she said, and would still include suggestions that vulnerable people should avoid crowded spaces.
Germany is slowly easing restrictions brought in to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced.
Social distancing rules will stay in place until at least May 3, with the chancellor also recommending the use of face masks in shops and on public transport.
However, as of next week stores under a certain size could open their doors.
Schools will gradually start to reopen from May 4.
Angela Merkel said Germany had achieved “fragile intermediate success” through the strict measures.
She said the country “must keep focused and keep going”, adding that they “do not have a lot of room for manoeuvre”.
Large public gatherings including religious services will remain banned until August 31. Bars, cafes, restaurants, theaters and music venues will all remain closed.
According to Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany has 127,584 confirmed cases and has reported 3,254 deaths.
Angela Merkel’s announcement makes Germany the latest European nation to start easing restrictions.
Denmark has reopened schools and nurseries for children up to the age of 11.
In Spain, construction and manufacturing work is back under way.
In Austria, thousands of smaller shops reopened on April 14, and the country will allow outdoor sport such as tennis, golf and athletics from May 1.
In Italy, some regions have reopened bookstores and children’s clothing stores.
France, however, has extended its lockdown measures for four more weeks until May 11. Belgium will maintain its restrictions until at least May 3.
In Russia, veterans groups have called for President Vladimir Putin to postpone the World War Two 75th anniversary victory parade planned for May 9, because of the risk it could pose to participants.
After a video conference with the heads of Germany’s 16 lands, Chancellor Merkel announced the gradual loosening of the strict lockdown measures.
Schools can reopen “gradually and very slowly” after May 4, she said, with new safety measures for breaks and school buses, and priority given to those students with exams.
She said: “It will be a great logistical effort and it needs very careful preparation.”
Stores of up to 800 square meters (8,600 sq ft) could be able to restart their businesses from Monday, provided they have “plans to maintain hygiene”, the chancellor said.
Car dealers, bike stores and bookstores can all reopen, regardless of their size. Hairdressers will be allowed to open their doors from May 4, provided they too comply with strict hygiene measures.
Angela Merkel strongly recommended people don protective face masks while shopping and while taking public transport, saying this “will help to protect other people”.
It makes Germany the latest country to issue guidance on face masks in public – although Chancellor Merkel did not make it mandatory.
German economy, the Europe’s biggest, entered a recession in March, its economy ministry said, citing “collapsing global demand, interruption of supply chains, changes in consumer behavior and uncertainty among investors”.
Last month, the German government passed a stimulus package worth €750bn ($816 billion) in a bid to help ease the effect of the coronavirus.
President Donald Trump has been accused by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of “spoiling for a fight”, as the president lashed out at “Democrat Governors”.
Several states, including New York, have begun cautious talks on reopening, but President Trump has claimed “total” power to lift virus lockdowns.
On April 14, Andrew Cuomo refuted the claim as President Trump took to Twitter to criticize the governor.
The US is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with 554,684 cases and 23,608 deaths.
New York has the most cases, but has seen signs of improvement, leading Governor Cuomo and regional governors to discuss plans for eventual relaxation of restrictions.
Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit
Governor Cuomo criticized President Trump at his daily press briefing, telling reporters that this was the governors’ prerogative, not the president’s. Andrew Cuomo would “not engage” in a fight with President Trump, he claimed, but added he would have “no choice” if the president the threatened the welfare of New Yorkers.
President Trump drew rebuke after claiming on April 13 that he had the ultimate authority to lift lockdown orders, contradicting governors and legal experts.
On April 14, the president took the row to Twitter criticizing Andrew Cuomo and issuing an oblique snipe at other governors.
President Trump tweeted: “Tell the Democrat Governors that ‘Mutiny On The Bounty’ was one of my all time favorite movies.
“A good old fashioned mutiny every now and then is an exciting and invigorating thing to watch, especially when the mutineers need so much from the Captain.”
The movie tells the story of a ship’s revolt in which mutineers meet with unhappy ends, with President Trump appearing to compare himself to the captain.
He aimed particular fire at Andrew Cuomo, who he said was calling “daily, even hourly, begging for everything,” like hospitals, beds, ventilators for his state. New York remains the US state hardest-hit by the coronavirus outbreak, reporting 778 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Andrew Cuomo told CNN on April 14: “I put my hand out in total partnership and cooperation with the president.”
The comments follow President Trump’s assertion on April 13 that “the president of the United States calls the shots,” during a combative press conference in which he feuded with reporters.
However, the US Constitution says the states maintain public order and safety.
The Trump administration has signaled May 1st as a potential date for easing the restrictions.
The current White House recommendations for Americans to avoid restaurants and non-essential travel and keep in-person gatherings to no more than 10 people expire on April 30.
Andrew Cuomo described President Trump’s position as a “shift” for the president, who had left the shuttering of states to governors.
The Vermont senator described Donald Trump as “the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country”.
He said: “Today I am asking all Americans – I’m asking every Democrat, I’m asking every independent, I’m asking a lot of Republicans – to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy which I endorse.
“It’s imperative that all of us work together.”
Joe Biden, 77, said he was “deeply grateful” for the endorsement and said he needed Bernie Sanders not just for the campaign, but to govern.
He said: “You’ve put the interests of this nation and the need to beat Donald Trump above all else. As you say – ‘Not me, us’.”
Addressing Bernie Sanders’ supporters, Joe Biden added: “I see you, I hear you, I understand the urgency of what it is that we have to get done in this country, and I hope you’ll join us.”
The former vice-president said he and Bernie Sanders were setting up policy working groups to address issues including climate change, health care and college fees.
It emerged shortly afterwards that Joe Biden had beaten Bernie Sanders in last week’s Wisconsin’s Democratic presidential primary – held amid controversy because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bernie Sanders, a self-described “Democratic socialist”, ended his presidential campaign last week, telling supporters he could see no feasible path to get enough votes to win the nomination.
The senator became an early front-runner, popular with younger voters, and made healthcare and income inequalities key election issues.
However, he slipped behind Joe Biden in recent weeks.
Bernie Sanders, an Independent, had sought the Democratic presidential nomination before, losing out in 2016 to Hillary Clinton.
Spain’s health ministry said on April 13 that the daily number of deaths had dipped slightly, with 517 reported in the previous 24 hours, compared with 619 announced on April 12. The official total death toll is now 17,489.
The number of new infections continues to drop, with 3,477 confirmed cases bringing the total to 169,496.
PM Pedro Sánchez warned over the weekend: “We are still far from victory, from the moment when we will recover normality in our lives.”
“We are all keen to go back out on the streets… but our desire is even greater to win the war and prevent a relapse,” the prime minister added.
On April 13, the government lifted some of the restrictions put in place on March 27 and allowed businesses whose employees cannot work remotely to reopen.
Officials intend to distribute 10 million face masks on public transport.
Pedro Sánchez said the decision was taken after consulting a committee of experts.
The prime minister also noted that Spain had not entered the “second phase” of the fight against the coronavirus, when there would be any further loosening of the lockdown. That was at least two weeks away and would “be very gradual”, he added.
Builders can only work in areas away from local residents, so they cannot yet go back to doing home improvements.
According to the Johns Hopkins tally, as of April 12, Italy reported 19,468 deaths while the US had 20,608.
There are now at least 529,951 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across the US.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has said the US is “starting to see the leveling off and coming down” of cases and deaths but says mitigation efforts such as social distancing should not be pulled back yet.
Federal social distancing recommendations, issued by President Donald Trump, are currently in place until April 30.
President Trump is facing twin pressures from the outbreak: with at least 16 million jobs lost in recent weeks as virus restrictions cripple the US economy.
Figures from Johns Hopkins University show 2,108 people died in the past 24 hours in the US while there are now more than half a million confirmed infections.
The US has become the first country in the world to record more than 2,000 Covid-19 deaths in a single day.
It could soon surpass Italy as the country with the most coronavirus deaths worldwide.
However, experts on the White House Covid-19 task force say the outbreak is starting to level off across the US.
Dr. Deborah Birx said there were good signs the outbreak was stabilizing, but cautioned: “As encouraging as they are, we have not reached the peak.”
President Donald Trump also said he expects the US to see a lower death toll than the initial predictions of 100,000 fatalities, adding: “We’re seeing clear signs that our aggressive strategy is saving countless lives.”
The US now has at least 18,693 deaths and 500,399 confirmed cases. About half of the deaths were recorded in the New York area.
Italy has reported 18,849 deaths while globally more than 102,000 people have died with the virus.
Researchers had predicted the US death toll would hit its peak on April 10 and then gradually start to decline, falling to around 970 people a day by May 1 – the day members of the Trump administration have floated as a possible date to start reopening the economy.
President Trump said at a Good Friday briefing at the White House: “I want to get it open as soon as possible.
“I would say without question it’s the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make.”
However, no action would be taken until the government knew the “country [was] going to be healthy” the president said.
“We don’t want to go back and start doing it over again.”
Bernie Sanders has decided to suspend his presidential campaign, clearing the way for former Vice-President Joe Biden to become the Democratic Party’s nominee.
The 78-year-old Vermont senator told supporters on April 8 he saw no feasible path to get enough votes to win the nomination.
An early front-runner, Bernie Sanders found success with young voters, but slipped behind Joe Biden in recent weeks.
Bernie Sanders helped make healthcare and income inequalities key election issues.
Among the most left-leaning candidates during this year’s election cycle, Bernie Sanders, a self-described “Democratic socialist”, campaigned on policies including healthcare for all, free public college, raising taxes on the wealthy and increasing minimum wage.
Bernie Sanders, an Independent, had sought the Democratic presidential nomination before, losing out in 2016 to Hillary Clinton.
In both elections, he found favor with young voters who embraced his calls for a political “revolution”.
Photo Getty Images
Bernie Sanders won endorsements from a number of celebrities, including Cardi B, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Mark Ruffalo and Dick Van Dyke.
He cemented his front-runner status at the start of the 2020 Democratic primary election season with wins in New Hampshire and Nevada, but his momentum lagged in later days.
Bernie Sanders failed to win key African-American voters across the southern states, who largely went for Joe Biden.
In recent weeks, Bernie Sanders had been hosting campaign events through online live streams due to health concerns from the Covid-19 outbreak.
Joe Biden, 77, is now expected to be crowned the Democratic presidential nominee at the party’s convention in August. He will then face off against President Donald Trump during the November general election.
Bernie Sanders told supporters in a live stream that the decision to end his campaign was “very difficult and painful”, and acknowledged some of his supporters would have wished him to fight until the last state contest.
He said: “If I believed we had a feasible path to the nomination, I would certainly continue.”
Bernie Sanders added that the campaign has “transformed American consciousness as to what kind of nation we can become and have taken this country a major step forward in the never-ending struggle for economic justice, social justice, racial justice and environmental justice”.
He noted that across the country, his campaign received “a significant majority of the votes…from people not only 30 years or younger, but 50 years or younger”.
“The future of this country is with our ideas.”
Bernie Sanders also congratulated Joe Biden, and said that he will work with him to “move our progressive ideas forward”.
He added that he will still be on ballots in states that have yet to vote in the Democratic primary elections, in order to gather delegates and influence the party’s general election platform at the convention.
“Together, standing united, we will go forward to defeat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in modern American history.”
World leaders – including President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron – have expressed their support for Boris Johnson.
On April 7, cabinet minister Michael Gove said the prime minister was not on a ventilator.
A Downing Street statement read: “The prime minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus.
“Over the course of [April 6] afternoon, the condition of the prime minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the intensive care unit at the hospital.”
The staement continued: “The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication.”
Boris Johnson was initially taken to hospital for tests after announcing 11 days ago that he had the coronavirus. His symptoms included a high temperature and a cough.
President Trump said Americans “are all praying for his recovery”, describing Boris Johnson as “a very good friend of mine and a friend to our nation” who is “strong” and “doesn’t give up”.
Prsident Macron said he sent “all my support to Boris Johnson, to his family and to the British people at this difficult moment”.
President Donald Trump has warned Americans to prepare for the “toughest week” of the coronavirus pandemic yet, predicting a surge in deaths.
At his daily briefing, the president said “there will be death” in a grim assessment of the days ahead.
Donald Trump sought to reassure the worst-hit states, promising medical supplies and military personnel to combat the virus.
However, in contrast to his warning, President Trump suggested easing social-distancing guidelines for Easter.
At a news conference at the White House on April 4, he said: “We have to open our country again.
“We don’t want to be doing this for months and months and months.”
President Trump’s calls to relax restrictions on life came on the day confirmed coronavirus infections in the US surpassed 300,000, the highest number in the world.
As of April 4, there were almost 8,500 deaths from Covid-19 in the US, with most in New York state – the epicenter of the outbreak.
On the same day, New York state recorded 630 more Covid-19 deaths, another daily record that takes its toll to 3,565. New York state now has almost as many cases – over 113,000 – as the whole of Italy.
The president gave a candid assessment of what lies ahead for the US in the coming weeks.
He said: “This will be probably the toughest week between this week and next week, and there will be a lot of death, unfortunately, but a lot less death than if this wasn’t done but there will be death.”
To support states in their fight against Covid-19, President Trump said his administration would be deploying a “tremendous amount of military, thousands of soldiers, medical workers, professionals”.
The military personnel will “soon” be advised of their assignments, the president said, adding that “1,000 military personnel” were being deployed to New York City.
President Trump also addressed his use of the Defense Production Act, a Korean-War-era law which gives him powers to control the production and supply of US-made medical products.
He said he was “very disappointed” with 3M, a US company that makes masks, saying it “should be taking care of our country” instead of selling to others.
However, the president rejected accusations that the US had committed an act of “modern piracy” by redirecting 200,000 Germany-bound masks for its own use.
On the question of easing social-distancing restrictions, President Trump reiterated a familiar theme.
President Trump has said: “The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself.”
Elsewhere in the world, there has been cause for optimism as the number of new infections and deaths from coronavirus has started to gradually diminish.
Globally, more than 60,000 people have died and more than 1.1 million have been infected, Johns Hopkins University says.
President Donald Trump has said he will not wear a face mask despite new medical guidelines advising Americans to do so.
He said he could not see himself greeting “presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens” in the Oval Office while wearing one.
President Trump stressed that the guidance released on April 3 was “voluntary”.
“You do not have to do it,” he said.
“I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.”
The guidelines issued by the CDC came as the US reported more than 1,100 deaths in a single day – the highest total for a 24-hour period anywhere in the world.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the US has so far confirmed 278,458 cases of Covid-19 and more than 7,000 deaths.
New York state remains the worst affected area, with nearly 3,000 deaths, and state governor Andrew Cuomo has appealed for help from other parts of the US.
Until now, US health authorities had said that only the sick, or those caring for patients of coronavirus, should wear masks, but newer studies suggest that covering up one’s face is important to prevent inadvertent transmission.
President Trump said on April 2: “From recent studies we know that the transmission from individuals without symptoms is playing a more significant role in the spread of the virus than previously understood.”
However, the president told reporters after announcing the CDC’s new guidance: “I just don’t want to do it myself.”
“Sitting in the Oval Office… I somehow don’t see it for myself.”
Americans are now advised to use clean cloth or fabric to cover their faces whilst in public. Officials have stressed that medical masks remain in short supply, and should be left for healthcare workers.
The CDC guidance comes as the number of cases globally climbs past one million.
President Trump announced the guidance at the White House daily coronavirus briefing, but repeatedly emphasized that the advisory was “voluntary”.
According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, more than a million cases of coronavirus have been registered globally on April 2, 2020.
This is another grim milestone as the world grapples with the spreading pandemic.
More than 51,000 people have died and more than 208,000 have recovered.
The US accounts for the most cases and Italy has the highest death toll.
Covid-19 first emerged in central China three months ago.
Though the tally kept by Johns Hopkins records one million confirmed cases, the actual number is thought to be much higher.
It took a month and a half for the first 100,000 cases to be registered, but one million was reached after a doubling in cases over the past week.
Nearly a quarter of cases have been registered in the US, while Europe accounts for around half.
On April 2, Spain said 950 people had died in the previous 24 hours – thought to be the highest number of deaths of any country in one day.
The number of confirmed Spanish cases rose from 102,136 on April 1 to 110,238 – an 8% rise that is similar to the rate recorded in previous days. Spanish authorities believe the virus is now peaking and say they expect to see a drop in figures in the days ahead.
Spain is the second-worst hit nation in terms of deaths. It has also lost nearly 900,000 jobs.
The US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has exceeded 5,000, while confirmed cases worldwide are reaching one million.
According to Johns Hopkins University, which tracks cornavirus figures globally, there were 884 deaths in the US in the last 24 hours, a new record.
The latest victims include a six-week-old baby. More than 216,000 are now infected, the world’s highest figure.
Reserves of protective equipment and medical supplies are almost exhausted.
The Trump administration says it can acquire adequate supplies, and has $16 billion available to do so. State and local officials have complained about insufficient protective equipment such as masks and gowns as well as ventilators, needed to help keep patients breathing.
Meanwhile, VP Mike Pence warned the US appeared to be on a similar trajectory as Italy where the death toll has exceeded 13,000 – the worst in the world.
The number of confirmed infections across the US rose by more than 25,000 in one day. The worst-hit place is New York City, where nearly 47,500 people have tested positive and more than 1,300 have died.
According to officials, as many as 240,000 people could die in the US from Covid-19 – the disease caused by the new coronavirus – even with the mitigation measures in place. In Connecticut, a six-week-old baby has died from coronavirus, believed to be America’s youngest victim of the virus so far.
Queens, New York City’s second-most populous borough, has the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths. The area is home to a large population of low-income workers employed by the service sector who live in close proximity, and social-distancing guidelines are hard to enforce.
New York City needed 2.1 million surgical masks, 100,000 surgical gowns and 400 ventilators, among other items, by Sunday, said Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has warned that April would be worse than March as the outbreak gathered pace. The NYC mayor said the goal was to triple the number of hospital beds, to 65,000.
Bill de Blasio tweeted: “This will be an epic process through the month of April. It’s herculean, but I believe it can be reached.”
As more US states tighten measures to fight the
coronavirus, about three out of four Americans are now, or about to be, under
some form of lockdown.
The US has almost 175,000 confirmed virus cases and over 3,400 deaths.
It surpassed Italy last week as the country with the highest number of
people suffering from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee and Arizona became the latest states to order
citizens to stay at home, meaning 32 of 50 states have taken such steps.
Meanwhile governors are quarrelling with President Donald Trump about the
availability of testing kits.
New York City is the worst-hit place
in the US, with 914 confirmed fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins
University.
Some 245 million people are already
under orders to stay at home, or facing such orders which come into effect
later on March 31.
Almost two-thirds of states have
issued directives for their citizens to stay put, while the remaining states
have localized orders in effect.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who
has been reluctant to impose a state-wide order, said he would instruct people
in four counties in the south – where more than half the state’s cases of the
virus exist – to stay at home. He said this would last until at least the
middle of May.
In general, the “lockdowns” allow people to only go out to get
essential supplies and medicines, or limited forms of exercise.
The economic consequences have been profound, with millions of people having
lost their jobs.
According to a Fed estimate, 47 million people could be out of work in the coming months, with the US still weeks away from the peak of infections.
According to CBS News, President Trump and state governors held a conference
call on March 30 in which the president suggested there was no longer a lack of
kits to test people for Covid-19.
In an audio recording obtained by CBS News, President Trump says he has not
“heard about testing in weeks.
He says: “We’ve tested more now
than any nation in the world. We’ve got these great tests and we’re coming out
with a faster one this week… I haven’t heard about testing being a problem.”
Montana Governor Steve Bullock is heard to say his state does not have
adequate numbers of kits.
He says: “Literally, we are one
day away, if we don’t get test kits from the CDC, that we wouldn’t be able to
do testing in Montana.”
Washington Governor Jay Inslee told the New York Times he was taken aback by President Trump’s assertion.
The US last week became the country with the most reported cases, ahead of
Italy and China.
Speaking during the latest Coronavirus Task Force press briefing at the
White House on March 29, President Trump said that measures such as social
distancing were “the way you win”, adding that the US “will be
well on our way to recovery” by June.
Suggesting that the “peak” of death rates in the US was likely to
hit in two weeks, President Trump said that “nothing would be worse than
declaring victory before victory is won – that would be the greatest loss of
all”.
Analysts suggest that when President Trump referred to a peak in the “death rate”, he probably meant the total number of recorded infections.
President Trump tweeted that instead of quarantine, a “strong travel
advisory” would be issued to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut by the
CDC.
The CDC then published a statement urging residents of those three states to
“refrain” from all non-essential domestic travel for 14 days.
It said the advisory did not apply to “critical infrastructure” service
providers, including healthcare professionals and food suppliers.
Speaking to reporters on March 28
about the situation in New York, President Trump said: “We’d like to see [it] quarantined because it’s a hotspot… I’m
thinking about that.”
He said it would be aimed at slowing
the spread of the virus to other parts of the US.
He said: “They’re having problems down in Florida. A lot of New Yorkers are
going down. We don’t want that.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo responded by
saying that quarantining the state of New York would be
“preposterous” and “anti-American”.
“If you said we were geographically restricted from
leaving, that would be a lockdown.”
The governor said New York had already implemented “quarantine”
measures, such as banning major gatherings and ordering people to remain at
home, but that he would oppose any “lockdown” efforts.
Andrew Cuomo told CNN: “Then we
would be Wuhan, China, and that wouldn’t make any sense.”
He added that this would cause the stock market to crash in a way that would
make it impossible for the US economy to “recover for months, if not
years”.
“You would paralyze the financial
sector,” he said.
Governor Cuomo added later: “I
don’t know how that can be legally enforceable. And from a medical point of
view, I don’t know what you would be accomplishing.
“But I can tell you, I don’t even
like the sound of it.”
He also said he would sue nearby Rhode Island if the authorities there
continued targeting New Yorkers and threatening to punish them for failing to quarantine.
On March 27, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo deployed National Guard
troops to stop cars with a New York license plate, to remind them of their
state’s advice that they quarantine.
Soldiers are going door-to-door in coastal vacation communities to ask if any residents have recently visited New York City.
As a measure to stop the spread of the new
coronavirus, Russia is beginning what President Vladimir Putin called a
“non-working week”.
The Russian government is urging people to stay at home, though mixed
messaging has left many people confused.
According to officials, the new restrictions could be extended beyond April
5, depending on the health situation.
The number of Russians infected with Covid-19 passed 1,000 on March 27, with
most cases detected in Moscow.
Based on that figure, the Kremlin spokesman has stressed that there is
“de facto no epidemic” here, comparing Russia’s position favorably
with the crisis in Europe.
Whilst state TV’s rolling news channel has changed its name to We’re Staying Home – broadcasting from
presenters’ living rooms – many people are struggling to adjust after its
previous insistence that Covid-19 was a “foreign threat”.
When President Putin announced a
paid week off work for all, there was a rush to book holidays.
The governor of Krasnodar region,
which includes the Black Sea resort of Sochi, had to order the closure of all
shopping centers, parks and restaurants – and limit flights – after hotel
reservations sky-rocketed.
Many Moscow residents have already
headed out of town to their dachas, or summer houses.
In the Russian capital, there has
been a noticeable increase in people in facemasks on the streets since
President Putin’s national address.
Supermarket staff have begun wearing
them and there are bottles of hand sanitizer in coffee shops.
Food stores will remain open, as well as other essential services, but from this weekend cafes and restaurants can offer takeaway only.
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