This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Coronavirus live updates: eighth Briton dies, second UK MP self-isolates and Belgium records first death
Coronavirus live updates: Merkel warns 70% of Germans at risk if infection not slowed, as cases rise in UK, US and Iran
(about 3 hours later)
York MP Rachael Maskell self-isolates, Bank of England cuts base rate, US cases pass 1,000 and deaths rise sharply again in Italy
Two British MPs self-isolate, Bank of England cuts base rate, US cases pass 1,000 and deaths rise sharply again in Italy
Angela Merkel has said 60-70% of Germany’s population will be infected with Covid-19, unless measures can be found to slow down the spread and develop vaccines in the time won.“When the virus is out there, the population has no immunity and no therapy exists, then 60 to 70% of the population will be infected,” the German chancellor told a news conference in Berlin on Wednesday morning.Merkel said the main focus of her government’s measures were to avoid overwhelming health services, and advised other European countries to set similar priorities.
The Irish Times reports that Ireland has recorded its first death from coronavirus.
She said:
It says that the patient, understood to be elderly, died in the east of the republic, where they had been treated in recent days after initially presenting with respiratory symptoms.
“We know that we are dealing with a pandemic virus that will infect 60-70% of people”, said Lothar Wieler, head of Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s federal agency for disease prevention, at the same press conference.“We don’t know with what speed this will happen”, Wielder added, saying the epidemic could take months or possibly years.By Tuesday afternoon the RKI had recorded 1,296 cases of infections with the novel corona virus in Germany. Media reported on Wednesday that a third person had died as a result of the virus.In Germany’s federalised political system, the national government is only able to issue recommendations to the individual state governments on the cancellation of larger events, such as football matches or concerts.Overnight, there had been growing irritation with the city senate of Berlin’s seeming hesitancy to ban spectators from this Saturday’s Bundesliga match between Union Berlin and Bayern Munich. “Federalism isn’t there so you can shirk responsibility”, Merkel said.On Wednesday morning it emerged that the football match would take place behind closed doors, and that Berlin is taking steps to ban events with more than a thousand visitors.“We have to give up on parts of our everyday routines in order to protect others”, said German health minister Jens Spahn, adding that relatively high recovery rates among young people meant there was even greater pressure on them to protect older members of society.
Ireland has 34 confirmed cases to date.
E3, the world’s largest video game convention, has reportedly been cancelled almost three months ahead of the conference’s first day. According to Bloomberg News, the official announcement is expected at 4:30pm today, but publishers have already been hinting at the news.
Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), gave the House oversight committee the latest official figures on the US outbreak - 990 national cases in 38 states plus the District of Columbia, and 31 deaths in the United States.
America’s Entertainment Software Association has yet to make an official announcement about the cancellation of the event, which typically takes place in Los Angeles every summer, but it is likely that Covid-19 fears are only a part of the decision.
He said the CDC diagnostic test is now in 75 US public health labs in all 50 states, with the capacity in the public health system to test up to 75,000 people.
Even in 2019, the conference was showing signs of faltering, with major publishers including Sony and EA pulling out of the event, and others such as Nintendo focusing promotional efforts on direct-to-consumer livestreams. This year’s event had further suffered the resignation of Geoff Keighley, a gaming celebrity who announced in February that he would not be participating.
On 2 March, the administration promised that a million tests would be available by the end of that week. Carolyn Maloney, the committee chair, wanted to know why the actual number is so much lower and why “South Korea can test more people in one day than we tested over the past two months”.
Tim Porter, the owner of London-based tech business called Kare, emails to express his concern about the lack of testing for people in the UK that haven’t come into contact with a confirmed case.
Redfield said that a test had been developed quickly but added:
He writes:
Hello, this is Haroon Siddique taking over the blog.
Turkey has announced its first confirmed case of Covid-19, ending weeks of speculation over whether the tourism and travel hub will be able to avoid the fast-spreading virus.
If you want to get in touch, you can do so via the following channels:
The patient is a Turkish national who had recently returned from Europe, health minister Fahrettin Koca said early Wednesday, and the man, his family and others who had come into contact with him are currently in quarantine. Koca did not provide any more details, citing the patient’s right to privacy.
Twitter: @Haroon_Siddique
Hospitals in Istanbul and the capital Ankara have been set up to test and quarantine patients suspected of having the virus.
Email: haroon[dot]siddique[at]theguardian[dot]com
Turkish citizens should avoid travelling abroad if possible, Koca added.
Travel between Malta and Switzerland, Germany, France and Spain is being banned as from midnight tonight, the government has announced, according to the Times of Malta liveblog.
Turkey, a tourist hub linking Europe and western Asia, had around 50 million visitors last year. It is also host to 63.5% of all refugees in the world, including some 3.5 million Syrians.
The same restriction already applies for travel from Italy, reports the Times of Malta.
Turkey took preemptive measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus, including shutting its border with Iran, one of the worst affected countries, and cancelling flights to several destinations with high rates of infection.
Romania has introduced further restrictions to try to limit the spread of coronavirus, with 35 confirmed cases in the country as of Wednesday afternoon, including 15 in the capital, Bucharest, writes my colleague Kit Gillet.
A festival in Edirne, near the Greek border, was cancelled on Tuesday. Several thousand refugees and migrants have gathered in the area since Turkey said it would no longer impede their passage to Europe.
Health authorities in Greece have announced that the number of coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 99 – an increase of 10 since yesterday, writes my colleague Helena Smith.
The Red Cross, Red Crescent and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have raised the alarm over possibly catastrophic effects if Covid-19 reaches vulnerable refugee and undocumented populations in the Middle East.
Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been testifying to the House oversight committee, about the expected timeline on the development of a vaccine, reports my colleague Julian Borger.
Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, has said that the next round of trade talks between the UK and the European Union, which were due to start next week, might have to be cancelled because of coronavirus.
In the US, the heads of the CDC, and national institutes of health are testifying before the House Oversight Committee.
There’s more on our politics live blog.
You can watch live here:
The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, is due to give a statement to MPs on coronavirus at 7pm.
My colleague Julian Borger (@julianborger) is tweeting:
Belgium has reported its first coronavirus-related death, prompting the government to urge people to stay at home if they feel sick.
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, announced more than C$1bn in spending on Wednesday morning, meant to tackle the looming economic thread of the coronavirus, reports my colleague Leyland Cecco.
Hervé Deladrière, the medical director for a group of hospitals in a south Brussels, said: “The [90-year-old] woman was admitted to Molière Longchamp hospital in Brussels on Monday. She had serious lung problems.”
The Foreign Office has advised all UK residents in Italy to return home if their travel is not necessary.
Steven Van Gucht, a virologist at Belgium’s scientific institute for public health, said: “It was an elderly lady with underlying disease. We need to show solidarity with the weak and protect them. How? By showing responsibility. Whoever is sick stays at home. Don’t shake hands, don’t kiss, keep your distance and do telework. Don’t go to mass meetings.”
The FCO statement in full:
The coronavirus death toll in Iran has jumped to 354, out of a total of 9,000 cases.
The number of coronavirus cases in the UK increases by 83 in 24 hours:
That represents a mortality rate of nearly 4%. As the mortality rate for the virus is thought to be between 1% to 2%, there are likely to be more unknown cases in Iran.
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in UK stands at 456, up 83 from 373 yesterday.
There are no plans to test any UK ministers, including Boris Johnson, for coronavirus after the health minister Nadine Dorries became the first MP to be diagnosed with Covid-19, PA Media reports.
The department tweeted:
The Department of Health and Social Care said ministers would not need to undergo testing as Public Health England worked to advise those who have been in close contact with Dorries.
Here’s a summary of the events so far today:
PHE said it had assessed the risk of Dorries’ individual close contacts and only those with symptoms needed to self-isolate. For each Covid-19 case, a risk assessment is carried out and advice tailored to that group, a spokeswoman said.
A 53-year-old British woman has become the eighth UK citizen to die after contracting coronavirus. She died in Bali, according to Indonesia’s health ministry.
Interesting to see how different governments are dealing with the threat of coronavirus. Reuters are reporting that all Polish schools will close starting on Monday to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
The UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a £30bn package to try ease the impact of coronavirus and promised the NHS “whatever it needs” to tackle the crisis. In his first budget Sunak said statutory sick pay will be available to anyone advised to self-isolate, and that sick notes will be available through the 111 service.
Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, added that universities, museums and cinemas will also be closed. Poland has confirmed 26 cases of the coronavirus. No one has died.
The Bank of England has cut interest rates in an emergency move to bolster the economy against the outbreak. The monetary policy committee voted unanimously to slash the bank rate from 0.75% to 0.25% at its first unscheduled meeting since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis
Greece closed schools last week, causing headaches for parents. One British Guardian reader living in Greece has written to us:
Brexit talks due to take place in London next week have been thrown into doubt because of coronavirus. Michael Gove told MPs that fresh concerns about the safety of the talks had been raised by EU officials.
A 53-year-old British woman has become the eighth British person to die having contracted coronavirus.
A member of staff of the health minister, Nadine Dorries, has also tested positive for the virus, but there are no plans to test other ministers. Dorries has complained of harassment by the media as she recovers at home from the virus.
The woman died in Bali, according to Indonesia’s health ministry. It the first death linked to Covid-19 in the country. An Indonesian government spokesman said the patient was already “critically ill” when she was diagnosed with the disease.
Iran announced a record increase in cases to 9,000 as the country’s death toll from the virus increased to 354. Friday prayers have been cancelled for a third week in a row.
An FCO spokesperson said:
More than 130 UK passengers from the quarantined cruise ship Grand Princess are on a flight back to Britain. A staff member at the headquarters of the Office for National Statistics in Newport, Wales.
A man who had been in a passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship became the first UK victim of the virus when he died in Japan. Since then six people have died in the UK.
Spain has confirmed 2,002 cases and 47 deaths, Belgium has announced its first coronavirus death, and Turkey confirmed its first case. German chancellor Angela Merkel warned that up to 70% of the population will be infected unless measures can be found to slow the spread of the outbreak. Poland is to close its schools.
My colleague Stephen Burgen in Barcelona reports that the festival of las Fallas in Valencia has become the latest victim of coronavirus in Spain after the regional government suspended the city’s biggest event indefinitely.
States of emergency have been declared in Michigan and Massachusetts, as the number of Covid-19 cases in the US passed 1000. Three security officers have tested positive at California’s San Jose airport.
My colleague Graeme Wearden has liveblogged the Bank of England press conference, where officials are explaining why it cut UK interest rates today. Catch all of the updates here:
China has reported only 24 new cases and 22 new deaths nationally, including a record low of 13 cases in Wuhan. Lockdowns have been partially lifted in the Hubei province, and key industries will be allowed to resume in Wuhan.
The York MP Rachael Maskell has confirmed that she has been advised to self-isolate after having a meeting with Nadine Dorries last Thursday – she says that she is asymptomatic.
Some consternation among people watching the budget that the UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, does not appear to be following NHS guidelines to cough and sneeze into a handkerchief.
We’ve had several readers contacting us today, asking why NHS 111 is not offering coronavirus testing for people who have not had close contact with a previously confirmed case or been to an affected country.
Instead of sticking to the mantra “catch it, kill it, bin it” Raab was seen coughing repeatedly into his hand.
Sam Freedman, the CEO of the The Education Partnerships Group, tweeted:
The UK chancellor has promised the NHS “whatever it needs” in terms of funding to tackle the spread of coronavirus in Wednesday’s budget.
A colleague has also sent this insight from an anonymous person who works in the palace of Westminster. They write:
PA Media reports:
The NHS 111 coronavirus tool is currently advising that unless you have had direct contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus or have recently travelled from an affected area, you do not need to call NHS 111.
Rishi Sunak set out plans for the health service in his budget and pledged security and support for those who are sick and unable to work due to the spread of Covid-19.
This report from Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (in french) states that Belgium has recorded its first death as a result of Covid-19. A 90-year old man from Brussels has died. Thanks to reader Tara Connolly for bringing this to our attention.
He said: “Whatever extra resources our NHS needs to cope with coronavirus it will get … Whether it’s millions of pounds or billions of pounds, whatever it needs, whatever it costs, we stand behind our NHS.”
The French government is preparing for an acceleration of the Covid-19 epidemic and experts are predicting Stage 3 will be introduced in the coming days, Kim Willsher writes from Paris.
He offered support to any workers who become too ill to work, with new measures including the ability to obtain a sick note by contacting 111 rather than having to visit a GP.
This comes as the country prepares for municipal elections the first round of which will be held this Sunday (the second round takes places the following Sunday). Voters are being urged to turn out to the polling stations with officials saying it will be no more dangerous than “a trip to the supermarket”.
And he said those working in the gig economy or who are self-employed will get quicker and easier access to benefits.
Jérôme Saloman, the director of the national health agency, announced at his daily news briefing on Tuesday evening that there are now 1,784 confirmed cases, 84 of who are in intensive care, and 33 deaths. All of those who have died are adults and 23 of them were aged over 75 years. Around 80-85% of the infections “remain benign”, Salomon said. However, he added there “remain numerous scientific uncertainties” about the virus unlike the Spanish Flu of a century ago. He has called on an army of “reservists” to come forward to help those working in the health services, including medical students who have yet to qualify. All doctors and nurses have been asked by their respecting professional organisations to be ready to join the “reservists” to help to control and treat the virus, including those who have retired.
Sunak said he was setting aside a £5bn emergency response fund to support the NHS and other public services, adding that he “will go further if necessary”.
“This is an exceptional crisis…we are prepared,” French president Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. The Elysée has tightened measures around the president after his chief of staff was thought to have contracted the virus.Patrick Strzoda is awaiting tests and is staying at home “as a precaution”.
His pledge comes after the government said there were no plans to test any ministers, including Boris Johnson, for Covid-19 after the health minister Nadine Dorries announced she had the virus.
The Cannes Film Festival organisers said they remained “reasonably optimistic” the event could go ahead between 12-23 May. However the festival president Pierre Lescure did not rule out the possibility it would be cancelled if the health crisis worsened as expected.
PHE said it had assessed the risk of Dorries’ individual close contacts and only those with symptoms need to self-isolate. For each Covid-19 case, a risk assessment is carried out and advice tailored to that group, said a spokeswoman.
More than 130 UK passengers from the quarantined cruise ship Grand Princess are on a flight back to Britain, the Foreign Office has said.
Andrew Whittaker, HM Consul General to San Francisco, tweeted: “Long but rewarding day. British nationals are en route back to after successfully disembarking the #GrandPrincess - huge thanks to my team on the ground & our partners for a smooth operation.”
Travel has been arranged from Birmingham airport to their homes and they will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
The plane left California at 6.15am UK time and is due to land early on Wednesday evening.
The Grand Princess - carrying about 3,500 passengers and crew - was allowed to dock in Oakland on Monday after being stranded off the coast for days.
At least 21 people on board had tested positive for COVID-19, the illness cause by the coronavirus.
