| Trump offers competing coronavirus messaging, warning of death but lamenting lockdown Posted: 04 Apr 2020 06:39 PM PDT  Trump repeated a favorite refrain of some conservatives, who have said that the coronavirus "cure"—that is, a nationwide shutdown—cannot be worse than the disease itself.
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| Why does the coronavirus affect people differently? Yahoo News Explains Posted: 05 Apr 2020 12:10 PM PDT  Coronavirus patients are showing a wide range of symptoms and the exact reason why is still a mystery — but we do have some clues as to what factors can influence the severity of the disease.
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| Biden says removal of Navy captain who sounded alarm on coronavirus 'close to criminal' Posted: 05 Apr 2020 08:18 AM PDT  "I think the guy should ... have a commendation rather than be fired," Biden said.
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| Fired US Navy captain reportedly emailed his coronavirus warning because he believed his boss would have prevented it Posted: 05 Apr 2020 06:21 PM PDT  The Navy's acting secretary said Capt. Brett Crozier was "panicking" and was flabbergasted by him being "so out of character."
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| Washington state returns ventilators for use in New York Posted: 05 Apr 2020 01:58 PM PDT  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday that the state will return more than 400 ventilators of the 500 it has received from the federal government so they can go to New York and other states hit harder by the coronavirus. The Democratic governor said Sunday that his statewide stay-at-home order and weeks of social distancing have led to slower rates of infections and deaths in Washington. Washington state has 7,666 confirmed cases of the virus and 322 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally on Sunday afternoon.
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| 'Who gets the kids?' I took an oath to serve my patients. My family didn't, but we're all in this together. Posted: 06 Apr 2020 05:52 AM PDT  A doctor treating COVID-19 patients sits down with her husband to make a will.
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| Iran will never ask U.S. for coronavirus help: official Posted: 06 Apr 2020 02:35 AM PDT  Iran will never ask the United States for help in the fight against the new coronavirus, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Monday. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected offers from Washington for humanitarian assistance for Iran, the Middle Eastern country so far worst-affected by the coronavirus, with 3,739 deaths and 60,500 people infected according to the latest figures on Monday. "Iran has never asked and will not ask America to help Tehran in its fight against the outbreak ... But America should lift all its illegal unilateral sanctions on Iran," Mousavi said in a televised news conference.
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| Coronavirus: Japan to declare emergency as Tokyo cases soar Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:54 AM PDT  The measures aim to avert a major outbreak in its major cities but fall short of a lockdown.
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| Where to buy the materials to make masks at home Posted: 06 Apr 2020 08:22 AM PDT  Some experts are recommending wearing masks out in public during the coronavirus outbreak. Here's where you can get materials to make them.
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| Is Trump leading a 'war' against the coronavirus? Posted: 06 Apr 2020 06:48 AM PDT  While the term "warfare" is a useful metaphor for the kind of mobilization necessary to save lives in this crisis, it's not a useful way to think about the primary responsibility of ordinary citizens right now, which is to stay at home.
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| Philippine police reportedly shot a man dead under Duterte's orders to kill any lockdown troublemakers Posted: 05 Apr 2020 10:27 PM PDT  The man attacked local officials with a scythe after they told him to wear a face mask, according to a police report.
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| U.S. coronavirus deaths near 10,000 as medical officials warn worst is yet to come Posted: 06 Apr 2020 08:47 AM PDT  "It's going to be the hardest moment for many Americans in their entire lives," Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on MSNBC's Meet the Press.
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| Boris Johnson's government reportedly believes the coronavirus may have accidentally leaked from a Chinese laboratory Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:50 AM PDT  "Perhaps it is no coincidence that there is that laboratory in Wuhan," one UK government official told the Mail on Sunday.
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| Iranian Health Official Calls Chinese Coronavirus Stats a ‘Bitter Joke’ Posted: 06 Apr 2020 05:05 AM PDT  Iranian health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur on Sunday criticized Chinese government statistics on the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, appearing to blame those statistics for other countries' slow response to the emerging pandemic."It seems statistics from China [were] a bitter joke, because many in the world thought this is just like influenza, with fewer deaths," Jahanpur said during a video conference in remarks translated by Radio Farda. "This [impression] were based on reports from China and now it seems China made a bitter joke with the rest of the world."Jahanpur added, "If in China they say an epidemic was controlled in two months, one should really think about it."The remarks caused a spat with Chinese officials, with China's ambassador to Iran saying the country should " show respect to the truths and great efforts of the people of China." Jahanpur took to Twitter to criticize Chinese statistics yet again, but subsequently offered praise of China, an ally of Iran."The support offered by China to the Iranian people in these trying times is unforgettable," Jahanpur wrote on Monday.While Iran has reported over 60,000 cases of coronavirus with more than 3,700 deaths as of Monday, U.S. officials believe the extent of the outbreak is much wider than the government has revealed. In late February, Iranian parliament members criticized their own government for concealing "horrific numbers" of deaths in the country.
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| During a Pandemic, an Unanticipated Problem: Out-of-Work Health Workers Posted: 05 Apr 2020 08:03 AM PDT  As hospitals across the country brace for an onslaught of coronavirus patients, doctors, nurses and other health care workers -- even in emerging hot spots -- are being furloughed, reassigned or told they must take pay cuts.The job cuts, which stretch from Massachusetts to Nevada, are a new and possibly urgent problem for a business-oriented health care system whose hospitals must earn revenue even in a national crisis. Hospitals large and small have canceled many elective services -- often under state government orders -- as they prepare for the virus, sending revenues plummeting.That has left trained health care workers sidelined, even in areas around Detroit and Washington, where infection rates are climbing, and even as hard-hit hospitals are pleading for help."I'm 46. I've never been on unemployment in my life," said Casey Cox, who three weeks ago worked two jobs, one conducting sleep research at the University of Michigan and another as a technician at the St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea Hospital near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Within a week, he had lost both.Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York has begged doctors and other medical workers from around the country to come to the city to help in areas where the coronavirus is overwhelming hospitals."Unless there is a national effort to enlist doctors, nurses, hospital workers of all kinds and get them where they are needed most in the country in time, I don't see, honestly, how we're going to have the professionals we need to get through this crisis," de Blasio said Friday morning on MSNBC.And the Department of Veterans Affairs is scrambling to hire health care workers for its government-run hospitals, especially in hard-hit New Orleans and Detroit, where many staff members have fallen ill. The department moved to get a federal waiver to hire retired medical workers to beef up staff levels.But even as some hospitals are straining to handle the influx of coronavirus patients, empty hospital beds elsewhere carry their own burden."We're in trouble," said Gene Morreale, the chief executive of Oneida Health Hospital in upstate New York, which has not yet seen a surge in coronavirus patients.Governors in dozens of states have delivered executive orders or guidelines directing hospitals to stop nonurgent procedures and surgeries to various degrees. Last month, the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Jerome M. Adams, also implored hospitals to halt elective procedures.That has left many health systems struggling to survive.Next week, Morreale said, Oneida will announce that it is putting 25% to 30% of its employees on involuntary furlough. They will have access to their health insurance through June. Physicians and senior staff at the hospital have taken a 20% pay cut."We've been here 121 years, and I'm hoping we're still there on the other side of this," Morreale said.Appalachian Regional Healthcare, a 13-hospital system in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, has seen a 30% decrease in its overall business because of a decline in patient volume and services related to the pandemic. Last week, the hospital system announced it would furlough about 8% of its workforce -- around 500 employees.Hospital executives across the country are cutting pay while also trying to repurpose employees for other jobs.At Intermountain Healthcare, which operates 215 clinics and 24 hospitals in Utah, Idaho and Nevada, about 600 of the 2,600 physicians, physicians assistants and registered nurses who are compensated based on volume will see their pay dip by about 15%, said Daron Cowley, a company spokesman.Those reductions are tied to the drop in procedures, which has fallen significantly for some specialties, he said. The organization is working to preserve employment as much as possible, in part by trying to deploy 3,000 staff members into new roles."You have an endoscopy tech right now that may be deployed to be at hospital entrances" where they would take the temperatures of people coming in, Cowley explained.In Boston, a spokesman for Partners HealthCare, with 12 hospitals, including Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's, said staff members whose work has decreased are being deployed to other areas or will be paid for up to eight weeks if no work is available.But redeployment is not always an option. Janet Conway, a spokeswoman for Cape Fear Valley Health System in Fayetteville, North Carolina, said many of the company's operating room nurses trained in specialized procedures have been furloughed because their training did not translate to other roles."Those OR nurses, many have never worked as a floor nurse," she said.Conway said nearly 300 furloughed staff members have the option to use their paid time off, but beyond that, the furlough would be unpaid. Most employees are afforded 25 days per year.Some furloughed hospital workers are likely to be asked to return as the number of coronavirus cases rise in their communities. But the unpredictable virus has offered little clarity and left hospitals, like much of the economy, in a free fall.Many health systems are making direct cuts to their payrolls, eliminating or shrinking performance bonuses and prorating paychecks to mirror reduced workload until operations stabilize.Scott Weavil, a lawyer in California who counsels physicians and other health care workers on employment contracts, said he was hearing from doctors across the country who were being asked to take pay cuts of 20% to 70%.The requests are coming from hospital administrators or private physician groups hired by the hospitals, he said, and are essentially new contracts that doctors are being asked to sign.Many of the contracts do not say when the cuts might end, and are mostly affecting doctors who are not treating coronavirus patients on the front lines, such as urologists, rheumatologists, bariatric surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists.Such doctors are still being asked to work -- often in a decreased capacity -- yet may be risking their health going into hospitals and clinics."It's just not sitting well," Weavil said, noting that he tells doctors they unfortunately have few options if they want to work for their institution long term."If you fight this pay cut, administration could write your name down and remember that forever," he said he tells them.In other cases, physicians are continuing to find opportunities to practice in a more limited capacity, like telemedicine appointments. But that has not eliminated steep pay cuts."Physicians are only paid in our clinic based on their productivity in the work they do," said Dr. Pam Cutler, the president of Western Montana Clinic in Missoula. "So they're automatically taking a very significant -- usually greater than 50% or 25% -- pay cut just because they don't have any work."In some areas, layoffs have left behind health care workers who worry that they will not be able to find new roles or redeploy their skills.Cox in Michigan said he was briefly reassigned at his hospital, helping screen and process patients coming in with coronavirus symptoms, but eventually the people seeking reassignments outgrew the number of roles.He also expressed concern that inevitable changes in the health care industry after the pandemic -- paired with the possibility of a lengthy period of unemployment -- could make it difficult to get his job back."I'm just concerned that the job I got laid off from may not be there when this is over," Cox said. "The longer you're away, the more you worry, 'Am I going to be able to come back?' So there's a lot of anxiety about it."Even as many of the largest hospital networks grapple with sudden financial uncertainty, much smaller practices and clinics face a more immediate threat.According to a statistical model produced by HealthLandscape and the American Academy of Family Physicians, by the end of April, nearly 20,000 family physicians could be fully out of work, underemployed or reassigned elsewhere, particularly as cities like New York consider large-scale, emergency reassignments of physicians."Many of these smaller practices were living on a financial edge to start with, so they're not entering into this in a good position at all," said Dr. Gary Price, the president of the Physicians Foundation. "Their margins are narrower, their patients don't want to come in, and many of them shouldn't anyway, so their cash flow has been severely impacted and their overhead really hasn't."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Trump: U.S. approaching period ‘that is going to be very horrendous’ Posted: 04 Apr 2020 07:38 PM PDT  President Trump on Saturday said that the United States is approaching a time that will be "very horrendous" for the nation amid the growing coronavirus outbreak across the country.
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| Faint glimmers of hope as virus deaths appear to be holding Posted: 06 Apr 2020 12:41 AM PDT  The steep rise in coronavirus deaths in New York appears to be leveling off in a possible sign that social distancing is working in the most lethal hot spot in the U.S., the governor said Monday — a trend that seems to have taken hold more convincingly in hard-hit Italy, Spain and France. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the number of new people entering hospitals daily has dropped, as has the number of critically ill patients who require ventilators.
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| Oil prices decline $3 a barrel as market remains uncertain on supply outlook Posted: 05 Apr 2020 12:44 PM PDT  Global benchmark oil prices traded as much as $3 a barrel lower as the market opened for Monday's trading session, reflecting fears of oversupply after Saudi Arabia and Russia postponed to Thursday a meeting about a potential pact to cut production. Late last week, prices had surged, with both U.S. and Brent contracts posting their largest weekly percentage gains on record due to hopes that OPEC and its allies would strike a global deal to cut crude supply worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus has cut demand and a month-long price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia has left the market awash in crude.
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| Face masks: How the Trump administration went from 'no need' to 'put one on' to fight coronavirus Posted: 04 Apr 2020 11:58 AM PDT  Just a little over a month after saying there was no need for the community at large to wear masks in public, the CDC has changed its mind, recommending that all Americans should wear some sort of face covering when venturing outside.
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| Here's the biggest news you missed this weekend Posted: 05 Apr 2020 03:36 PM PDT  Medical professionals are being deployed to New York City. Two Coral Princess cruise passengers have died. Here's the weekend's biggest news.
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| Americans play the 'waiting game' after last passenger plane from Moscow canceled Posted: 05 Apr 2020 09:23 AM PDT  "If I don't get a flight soon, then I probably won't see my dad ever again," said Grace Mitchell.
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| Boris Johnson has received oxygen treatment after being admitted to hospital for 'persistent symptoms of coronavirus' Posted: 06 Apr 2020 06:03 AM PDT  Aides have become "increasingly worried" about Prime Minister Boris Johnson's health since he tested positive for the coronavirus.
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| Fired intelligence community watchdog breaks silence Posted: 05 Apr 2020 11:47 PM PDT  Michael Atkinson wrote that he was "legally obligated" to make sure whistleblowers had confidentially.
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| Whale sharks: Atomic tests solve age puzzle of world's largest fish Posted: 06 Apr 2020 02:55 AM PDT  Data from Cold War nuclear bomb tests help scientists accurately age whale sharks for the first time.
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| Indonesia Virus Cases Seen Soaring to 95,000 by Next Month Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:05 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The deadly coronavirus may infect as many as 95,000 people in Indonesia by next month before easing, a minister said, as authorities ordered people to wear face masks to contain the pandemic.The dire forecast, which came as the country reported its biggest daily spike in confirmed cases, is based on a projection by the nation's intelligence agency, University of Indonesia and Bandung Institute of Technology, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told lawmakers in Jakarta. The estimate was discussed at a cabinet meeting held by President Joko Widodo earlier on Monday, she said.Indonesia has seen a surge in infections in recent weeks after reporting its first cases only in early March. While the death toll from the pandemic at 209 is the highest in Asia after China, confirmed cases at 2,491 in a country of almost 270 million people is fewer than those reported in smaller countries such as Malaysia and the Philippines. Authorities reported 218 new Covid-19 cases on Monday. "The situation is very dynamic," Indrawati said. "The government continues to monitor and take more steps as estimates show that the cases may peak in April and May."Jokowi, as Widodo is known, has declared a national health emergency and ordered large scale social distancing to contain the spread of the virus that has infected almost 1.3 million people worldwide. On Monday, the president ordered authorities to ensure availability of face masks for every household as he appealed to citizens to cover their faces to contain the pandemic.The world's fourth-most populous nation, along with India and the Philippines, could soon become the next Covid-19 hot spots given their large populations, weak health care infrastructure and social security net, according to Nomura Holdings Inc.Mortality RateThe highest mortality rate in Asia may signal the actual number of infections may be much higher than reported in Indonesia, reflecting a lack of Covid-19 testing capacity, Nomura said in a report last week. The country may eventually be forced to implement a complete lockdown in April and possibly for an extended period, Nomura said.The president has rejected calls to lock down cities and regions to fight the virus, saying such harsh steps would hurt the poor the most. But the surge in cases has overwhelmed the country's health care system, with authorities struggling to procure enough personal protection equipment, hazmat suits and ventilators for medical workers.Some local administrations have sought permission to impose large scale social distancing measures under a new rule issued by the Health Ministry, Doni Monardo, chief of the government's task force on coronavirus said Monday. The steps will allow police and other law enforcement agencies to take "measurable actions", according to officials.Indonesia Slashes Growth Forecast by More Than Half on Virus The police will step up a crackdown on gathering of people across the archipelago to aid the government efforts to break the virus chain, national police spokesman Argo Yuwono said in a televised briefing Monday. Law enforcement agencies have also investigated more than a dozen cases of hoarding of food, masks and other essential supplies and price gouging, he said.Jokowi said a plan to release prisoners from the nation's crowded jails should be limited to those serving terms for general crimes and not those convicted for corruption and other serious offenses. The president also ordered speedier reallocation of budget to tackle the health and economic impact of the pandemic, his office said in a statement.(Updates with latest coronavirus data in third paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 'Together we are tackling this disease’: Queen Elizabeth II delivers speech during coronavirus crisis Posted: 05 Apr 2020 12:24 PM PDT  Queen Elizabeth II delivered a brief speech on Sunday during the growing coronavirus crisis.
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| Suspected cartel shootout kills 19 in northern Mexico Posted: 04 Apr 2020 01:46 PM PDT |
| Nations flood economies with aid; airlines retreat from NYC Posted: 06 Apr 2020 03:51 AM PDT  The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments Monday related to the global economy, the work place and the spread of the virus. CENTRAL BANKS AND GOVERNMENT: The White House is considering coronavirus "war bonds" to fund the federal response to the pandemic.
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| Monster storm strengthens in Pacific, lashing Vanuatu Posted: 05 Apr 2020 11:30 PM PDT  A deadly Pacific cyclone intensified as it hit Vanuatu on Monday, threatening a natural disaster that experts fear will undermine the impoverished Pacific nation's battle to remain coronavirus-free. Tropical Cyclone Harold, which claimed 27 lives when it swept through the Solomon Islands last week, strengthened to a scale-topping category five superstorm overnight, Vanuatu's meteorology service said. It made landfall on the remote east coast of Espiritu Santo island on Monday morning and was heading directly for Vanuatu's second-largest town Luganville, which has a population of 16,500.
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| China is trying to relax its severe coronavirus lockdown, but a series of forced re-closures shows how hard it is to get back to normal Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:09 AM PDT  China — which is deeper than any other country in its coronavirus response — is struggling to snap back to reality. Others will likely struggle too.
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| A Taliban Fighter Is Serving a Life Sentence in the U.S. That’s a Huge Problem for Our Soldiers. Posted: 05 Apr 2020 07:00 AM PDT  Irek Hamidullin was a foot soldier for the Taliban, captured after a firefight in 2009 in Afghanistan. He and his fellow soldiers had tried to attack an Afghan Border Police post, but were routed by U.S. helicopter pilots who killed everyone in his group but him. No U.S. or Afghan government soldiers were injured in the battle. Imprisoned at Bagram Air Base until 2014, Hamidullin was then brought to federal court in Richmond, Virginia, and prosecuted. He was convicted of crimes including material support to terrorists and attempted murder of U.S. military personnel and sentenced to life plus 30 years. Now that the U.S. has inked a peace deal with the Taliban—with the critical assistance of five former Gitmo detainees exchanged in the swap for Bowe Bergdahl—and President Trump has communicated directly with Taliban leaders, it's time to reconsider whether Hamidullin (who one of us represented in this criminal case) should remain in federal prison. By negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban, the U.S. has recognized that Taliban soldiers should be treated just like any other adversary.Trump Chatted With Taliban Leaders on Secret U.S. Kill-or-Capture ListHamidullin's conviction has no precedent in our history. We have always recognized, as the price of war, the right of our adversaries to fight back— and insisted that our soldiers receive the same treatment. In 1775, General George Washington complained to his British counterpart that American soldiers should not be put in jails like criminals, and warned that British prisoners would be treated the same way Americans were treated. Confederate soldiers likewise were immune from ordinary criminal prosecution. In 1891, a Lakota chief was famously acquitted in federal court of murdering an Army officer on the ground that he was simply fighting in a war. And the U.S. treated captured North Vietnamese soldiers as prisoners of war.This practice was always meant to protect American soldiers captured by our adversaries. It is summed up by Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black's observation that "it is no crime to be a soldier," which is why soldiers may be held until the end of a war but then must be released.There are reasons to treat the Taliban differently, of course. Deposed in 2001, the Taliban are not recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, even though they have maintained control over large parts of the country since they were overthrown. Nor do they observe the laws of war.But neither did the North Vietnamese. Hamidullin, moreover, was never accused of committing a war crime. And a soldier fighting on behalf of a deposed government is still a soldier. German soldiers, after World War II, were even prosecuted for executing captured French partisans who fought after the Germans took Paris, because the Free French were still entitled to be treated as soldiers. News reports say that the principal sticking point in the new peace deal is not the ongoing Taliban attacks on Afghan security forces, but the commitment "to expeditiously release combat and political prisoners as a confidence building measure," in which "up to five thousand prisoners of the [Taliban]" and "up to one thousand prisoners of the other side" are to be released. The plan also provides for the "goal of releasing all of the remaining prisoners over the course of the subsequent three months." Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who is not a party to the deal, reportedly has objected that "freeing Taliban prisoners is not the authority of America, but the authority of the Afghan government." Although he originally authorized the release of fifteen hundred Taliban soldiers as a prelude to peace talks, that decision is now up in the air.But there is one prisoner who should be released by the U.S. government right now: Irek Hamidullin. He is no different than any other soldier in any other war we've fought. He thus committed no crime by fighting on a battlefield against the United States. Now that the U.S. has entered into a peace deal with the Taliban, he should be released—because that's how U.S. soldiers should be treated.Geremy Kamens is the federal public defender for the Eastern District of Virginia, and represented Mr. Hamidullin in his criminal case. Captain Mizer is the lead defense counsel for a defendant facing a military commission at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Hydroxychloroquine: Can India help Trump with unproven 'corona drug'? Posted: 06 Apr 2020 03:57 AM PDT  India may 'reconsider' a ban on exporting hydroxychloroquine after a call from the US President.
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| Former FDA commissioner expects New York health-care system will be pushed to the brink, but 'won't go over' Posted: 05 Apr 2020 10:28 AM PDT  Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has issued some dire warnings since the early days of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus, but on Sunday he indicated some steps taken by the U.S. federal government and states might be paying off -- both in terms of curbing the spread and preparing the health-care system for an onslaught of patients.New York City remains the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, and its hospitals are struggling. Gottlieb reiterated the predication made by numerous officials that the city, and New York state, are on the verge of peaking next week, which will undoubtedly stretch the health-care system thin. But he said he, ultimately, he thinks there will be enough ventilators for severe COVID-19 patients thanks to a historic effort to expand their supply, preventing New York from going past its tipping point.> The New York healthcare system "will be right on the brink" \- strained - "but won't go over" @ScottGottliebMD tells @margbrennan . He adds, "I don't think they will run out of ventilators." pic.twitter.com/AhnAanf4rN> > -- Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 5, 2020As for the rest of the country, Gottlieb believes mitigation efforts like social distancing are "clearly working," as case rates slow in northern states, though he's concerned the next set of hot spots will be in the South. > "Mitigation is clearly working," @ScottGottliebMD tells @margbrennan, but notes that states in the Sunbelt - across the south - are going to be the next hotspots in the United States. pic.twitter.com/wD4q1Z5yUf> > -- Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 5, 2020More stories from theweek.com New York City plans to temporarily bury coronavirus victims in a park Most Floridians don't trust Trump to deliver reliable information on coronavirus, poll shows Boris Johnson says he's in 'good spirits' amid rumors that his coronavirus symptoms are worse than reported
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| Coronavirus map of the US: latest cases state by state Posted: 05 Apr 2020 10:56 PM PDT  * Coronavirus: world map of deaths and cases * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageThe number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 continues to grow in the US. Mike Pence, the vice-president, is overseeing the US response to the coronavirus.So far, 80% of patients experience a mild form of the illness, which can include a fever and pneumonia, and many of these cases require little to no medical intervention. That being said, elderly people and those with underlying conditions such as diabetes or heart and lung issues are the most vulnerable. The coronavirus death rate in China for people 80 or over, in the government's study of more than 72,000 cases, was 14.8%.default default default * Due to the unprecedented and ongoing nature of the coronavirus outbreak, this article is being regularly updated to ensure that it reflects the current situation at the date of publication. Any significant corrections made to this or previous versions of the article will continue to be footnoted in line with Guardian editorial policy.
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| Congo mine attack kills three Chinese nationals - Xinhua Posted: 06 Apr 2020 01:43 AM PDT |
| Japan’s Abe Set to Declare Virus Emergency As Cases Jump Posted: 05 Apr 2020 11:55 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to declare a state of emergency, media reports said, after coronavirus cases in Tokyo jumped over the weekend to top 1,000, raising worries of a more explosive surge.After last week saying the situation didn't yet call for such a move, Abe changed course and will announce the plan as soon as Monday, media reports said. The formal declaration for the Tokyo area will be coming as early as Tuesday, the Yomiuri newspaper reported without attribution. The declaration could also cover the surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa, as well as Osaka, and be given a time limit of six months, broadcaster TBS said, citing sources close to the matter.The process for making the declaration picked up pace Monday, with Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is handling the virus response, meeting Abe alongside the government's top expert adviser on the pandemic. The premier may unveil his plan at a meeting of his virus task force after 6 p.m.The declaration could go into effect as Japan's biggest-ever stimulus package worth 60 trillion yen ($550 billion) is set to be announced Tuesday.No LockdownThe state of emergency, which comes after pressure from local governors and the medical community, doesn't enable a European-style lockdown.Declaring a state of emergency hands powers to local governments, including to urge residents to stay at home for a certain span of time during the emergency period. By contrast with some other countries though, there is no legal power to enforce such requests due to civil liberties protections in Japanese law.Abe's government saw its approval rating slip to its lowest since October 2018 in a poll from broadcaster JNN released Monday with a majority of respondents faulting the way the government has managed the virus crisis. The poll taken April 4-5 showed that about 80% of respondents said the declaration should be made.The governors of Tokyo and Osaka have been pushing for the declaration as the recent spike in cases sparked concerns Japan is headed for a crisis on the levels seen in the U.S. and several countries in Europe.Japan was one of the first countries outside of the original epicenter in neighboring China to confirm a coronavirus infection and it has fared better than most, with about 3,650 reported cases as of Monday -- a jump from less than 500 just a month ago. That's the lowest tally of any Group of Seven country, although Japan might be finding fewer mild cases because it has conducted a relatively small number of tests.Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo advised American citizens who live in the U.S. but are currently in Japan to return home, "unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period." It added Japan's low testing rate makes it hard to accurately assess the prevalence of the virus. The Japan Medical Association warned last week that the jump in cases in the nation's most populous cities is putting more pressure on medical resources and that the government should declare a state of emergency.Tokyo reported 143 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, the largest number in a single day. It marked the second straight day the city's daily infection tally exceeded 100.Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is already pressing residents to avoid unnecessary outings, and television showed many of the capital's main shopping areas almost deserted over the weekend. The Tokyo local government is set to begin leasing hotels this week to accommodate mild cases, making room in its hospitals for the seriously ill.(Updates with media reports on area, time period)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Malaysia detains boatload of 202 presumed Rohingya refugees Posted: 05 Apr 2020 04:06 AM PDT  Malaysian authorities said they have arrested a boatload of 202 people believed to be minority Muslim Rohingya refugees after their boat was found adrift Sunday morning near the northern resort island of Langkawi. A Northern District maritime official, Capt. Zulinda Ramly, said the refugees included 152 men, 45 women and five children. Zulinda said maritime officials have taken precautionary measures to prevent any possible transmission of the COVID-19 virus while handling the group.
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| Black mistrust of medicine looms amid coronavirus pandemic Posted: 05 Apr 2020 08:32 AM PDT  Roughly 40 million black Americans are deciding whether to put their faith in government and the medical community during the coronavirus pandemic. Historic failures in government responses to disasters and emergencies, medical abuse, neglect and exploitation have jaded generations of black people into a distrust of some public institutions.
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| An Illinois man allegedly shot his wife then himself over coronavirus fears Posted: 05 Apr 2020 01:19 PM PDT  Experts predicted the stresses of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns could lead to an uptick in domestic violence.
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| Ex-head of Libya's anti-Kadhafi revolt dies of coronavirus Posted: 05 Apr 2020 09:00 AM PDT  Mahmud Jibril, the former head of the Libyan rebel government that overthrew dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, died Sunday of the coronavirus, his party said. Jibril, 68, died in Cairo where he had been hospitalised for two weeks, said Khaled al-Mrimi, secretary of the Alliance of National Forces party founded by Jibril in 2012. Jibril headed the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), the interim government during the NATO-backed rebellion that toppled and killed Kadhafi.
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| Trump Urges Coronavirus Patients to Take Unproven Drug Posted: 05 Apr 2020 08:19 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the federal government was placing millions of doses of a malaria drug in the federal stockpile of emergency medical supplies to make it available for coronavirus patients, even though the drug has not been approved for COVID-19 treatment and his top coronavirus advisers have warned that more study is needed to determine its safety and efficacy.Though advisers, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have cautioned many times that more data is needed on the drug, hydroxychloroquine, Trump, in a White House briefing, went so far as to urge patients to take it."What do you have to lose? Take it," the president said. "I really think they should take it. But it's their choice. And it's their doctor's choice or the doctors in the hospital. But hydroxychloroquine. Try it, if you'd like."During the briefing, as Fauci and other advisers looked on, the president talked about the potential of other medicines, too. He mentioned azithromycin, often referred to as a Z-Pak, which has been given to some patients along with hydroxychloroquine."The other thing, if you have a heart condition, I understand, probably you stay away from the Z-Pak. But that's an antibiotic. It can clean out the lung. The lungs are a point of attack for this horrible virus."In addition to treating malaria, hydroxychloroquine is also prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and some other autoimmune diseases. Laboratory studies in cultured cells have suggested that it may block the coronavirus from invading cells. And some researchers think its ability to dial back an overactive immune system -- the reason it is used for autoimmune diseases -- might help relieve the life-threatening inflammation that develops in some coronavirus patients.Still, there is no definitive proof that it works against the coronavirus, and it does not have Food and Drug Administration approval for that use. Early reports from China and France suggested that it could help, but the studies had flaws that made the findings less than reliable. Many researchers have called for controlled clinical trials to determine once and for all whether hydroxychloroquine has any value for coronavirus patients.A more recent study from China was conducted more carefully than the earlier ones, and found that the drug did help, but the study was small, included only mildly ill patients and its authors said more research was needed.Trump seized on the drug several weeks ago, at one point saying it would be a "game changer" in the course of the pandemic. Hoarding and a run on the drug followed, leaving patients who rely on the drug for chronic diseases wondering whether they would be able to fill their prescriptions.On Saturday, he continued with that message. "If this drug works, it will be not a game changer because that's not a nice enough term. It will be wonderful," he said. "It will be so beautiful. It will be a gift from heaven if it works."With no proven treatment for the coronavirus, many hospitals in the United States have simply been giving hydroxychloroquine to patients, reasoning that it might help and probably will not hurt, because it is relatively safe. But it is not considered safe for people with abnormal heart rhythms.At the Saturday briefing, Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said the agency had given special permission for imported hydroxychloroquine to be used in the United States, in part to make sure that there would be enough for patients who need it for chronic diseases like lupus.On Friday, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases, warned Americans against assuming the drug would be a silver bullet against the coronavirus, noting that evidence of its effectiveness was scant and more studies were needed.But on Saturday, Trump continued to wax enthusiastic."We're going to be distributing it through the Strategic National Stockpile," he said, adding, "We have millions and millions of doses of it; 29 million to be exact."The Department of Health and Human Services directed questions to the Strategic National Reserve, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Trump said he also had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India about procuring millions more doses of hydroxychloroquine from that country.He also said there was a study indicating that patients with lupus did not contract the coronavirus, implying that perhaps their use of hydroxychloroquine was protecting them."They should look at the lupus thing. I don't know what it says, but there's a rumor out there that because it takes care of lupus very effectively as I understand it, and it's a, you know, a drug that's used for lupus. So there's a study out there that says people that have lupus haven't been catching this virus. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not."It is not clear what study he was referring to. Researchers from China did report that they noticed that their lupus patients had not caught the virus, but the observation was anecdotal, not proof.At the briefing Saturday, Fauci said the observation was worth studying.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Britain in crisis: Queen delivers rare rallying cry as prime minister sent to hospital Posted: 06 Apr 2020 06:29 AM PDT  "We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again," the queen said, echoing a World War II-era song.
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| When Coronavirus Is Over, Middle East Chaos Will Only Be Worse Posted: 05 Apr 2020 02:23 AM PDT  For a time the Middle East seemed like it just froze, the conflicts of yesterday put in quarantine—as so many of us have been—while various countries strive to contain an epidemic of biblical scale. Don't expect that to last. The coronavirus outbreak is not the great equalizer, nor is it the crisis in which past rivalries will be forgotten.Trump's Most Vital Mideast Allies Are Trending Fast Toward TyrannyLike an earthquake, the coronavirus is magnifying the foundational weaknesses of the least prepared countries, exacerbating existing inequalities across the region. And like a particularly lethal aftershock, the crash of the oil price further debilitates petroleum-based economies that lack the financial reserves to weather the secondary blow to their system. For Gulf countries, the "double whammy" of the coronavirus and the oil shock, while major disruptions, can be weathered with mass injections of capital. Moreover, these countries appear to have been some of the best prepared to deal with the pandemic, likely because they already faced the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak. They acted relatively quickly and decisively to identify cases and close down their borders. That's not to say that things aren't going to be bad for Gulf countries—they will—but there will be different shades of bad. By contrast, Algeria, Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon are certain to be hit especially hard by the twin blows. Algeria and Iraq's budgets are so tied to the price of oil that they have no margin to maneuver. The economic crisis will also hit Egypt, especially with the loss of tourism, while Lebanon was in the process of defaulting on its sovereign debt even before the outbreak really took off. Refugee and internally displaced communities across the region also are going to be hit very hard, which is likely to increase refugee flows both within and outside the region—with potential recipients of these flows having another reason to close their doors. As a result, the burden of these new refugees is poised to be borne most by the states that can least afford to do so and those that already are host to massive displaced populations.This widening gap will have an impact on the region's geopolitics. Desperate people do desperate things, and desperate regimes even more so. The recent escalation in attacks against coalition forces in Iraq which resulted in the killing of two U.S. and UK soldiers in the Taji military base is one example of what could become a trend: namely, the growing need for countries weakened by the outbreak to project strength. Iran has been at the epicenter of the crisis in the region and its lack of transparency and effort to maintain ties with one of its last trading partners, China, turned the crisis into a nightmare—making us, as geopolitical analysts, wonder what does Iran have to lose and where could its proxies strike next?Beyond that, as the crisis shifts America's focus even more inwards, local actors will test Washington's willingness to respond to escalation. Given what happened in Iran, and the possible geopolitical consequences, this raises the questions of what would (or more likely will) happen if/when the crisis will reach these levels in areas such as Syria, Yemen, Libya or Gaza? In an already unequal world, the crisis may well make asymmetric warfare even more relevant than it already was.While some regimes struggling against popular protest movements may have perceived a silver lining in the outbreak, a day of reckoning is not far over the horizon. In Algeria and Lebanon the streets are emptying fast. Now that the scale of the outbreak has set in, most if not all protesters won't be marching for weeks or months to come. But there will be some reluctance to call off the demonstrations. Some protesters view their local regimes as worse than the virus. Those who decide to continue demonstrating will face a crackdown rationalized by the outbreak—Algeria already issued a ban on protests. The pandemic will break the momentum of these popular movements, but, once the dust settles, these may also come back swinging at governments that mishandled the crisis. The Middle East and North Africa were in the middle of a second Arab Spring. There's every reason to expect the uprisings to regain their momentum when "coronavirus season" is over.On a domestic level, the crisis likely won't bring people together, at least not in the long term—and not only because of the need for social distancing. Sectarian tensions are liable to increase, particularly as a result of Iran's catastrophic mishandling of the situation. In the Gulf, where much of the initial outbreak was the result of Iran-related travels—which are difficult to track given that Gulf citizens who travel to Iran don't get their passports stamped—fear of a broader outbreak due to such travel is already having an impact, with Saudi Arabia closing the Shiite-majority region of Qatif, and other Gulf countries reluctant to repatriate their own citizens from Iran. The lack of testing capabilities in Sunni areas of Iraq (when compared to Kurdish and Shiite-majority areas), a similar lack of balance between testing numbers among the Jewish and Arab communities in Israel alongside tensions prompted by lockdown measures in Jaffa, all highlight the possibility that the outbreak will widen domestic divides rather than bridge them.In Israel, the crisis has revealed—overnight—the government's willingness to approve massive spying on its own population at a time when parliament can't convene to monitor the use of data gathered by the Israeli Security Agency. This is not an isolated case: more broadly, containment measures and the subsequent reaction by their respective populations will widen the gap between governments who managed to gain public trust, and those who didn't.All of these factors suggest the coronavirus pandemic will turn into a defining moment for the region, not simply because of its magnitude, but because it came at a time when most countries were experiencing their own political crises—and failed to build any immunity to the one that suddenly knocked at their doors.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Coronavirus pandemic is historical test for EU, Merkel says Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 AM PDT  The coronavirus is the European Union's biggest ever challenge and member states must show greater solidarity so that the bloc can emerge stronger from the economic crisis unleashed by the pandemic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday. Germany and the Netherlands have been criticised by Italy and Spain - the two countries worst affected by the coronavirus outbreak - for rejecting calls that the euro zone issue common debt to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic. Merkel reaffirmed Germany's opposition to pooling its debt with other countries in the euro system but said she supported using the currency bloc's bailout fund to help badly affected countries to weather the crisis.
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| Trump tempers officials' grave assessments with optimism Posted: 05 Apr 2020 07:29 AM PDT  The U.S. surgeon general says that Americans should brace for levels of tragedy reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, while the nation's infectious disease chief warned that the new coronavirus may never be completely eradicated from the globe. "We're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel," Trump said at a Sunday evening White House briefing. Pence added, "We are beginning to see glimmers of progress."
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| Italy, Spain, and France reported declines in daily coronavirus death tolls. Their governments don't plan to lift national lockdowns and social distancing rules anytime soon. Posted: 05 Apr 2020 01:43 PM PDT  "We are suffering very much. It's a devastating pain," Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Sunday.
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| No Probe on Trump’s Early Virus Response, House Democrat Says Posted: 05 Apr 2020 02:17 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said it's unlikely a congressional panel overseeing coronavirus relief will investigate the Trump administration's initial response to the pandemic that's claimed thousands of American lives."This committee will be forward-looking," Clyburn told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." "We're not going to be looking back on what the president may or may not have done back before this crisis hit. The crisis is with us."The South Carolina lawmaker said the panel will instead be looking at how $2 trillion stimulus package to address the economic fallout of the spread of Covid-19 is administered."The American people are now out of work, millions of them out of work," he said. "The question is whether or not the money that's appropriated will go to support them and their families, or whether or not this money will end up in the pockets of a few profiteers."Clyburn's remarks arrive as some Democratic governors criticize the Trump administration for what they say is a failure to provide adequate supplies or centralized policies to the states to address the crisis, despite having weeks or months of lead time.Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said during a Sunday news conference that the federal government knew about the seriousness of the virus as early as January but failed to act quickly enough."The idea that the United States federal government did nearly nothing for quite a long time is now being visited upon us," Pritzker said. "If action had been taken earlier a lot fewer lives would be lost."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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