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Coronavirus live updates: US health chiefs advise against events of more than 50 as 100m Europeans locked down Coronavirus live updates: global infections outstrip China cases as US ramps up response
(32 minutes later)
New York closes schools; US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to near zero; Deaths jump in Spain, Italy and Iran. Follow the latest news. New York closes schools; CDC advises against gatherings of more than 50 people, US Fed cuts interest rates to near zero; deaths jump in Europe. Follow the latest news.
Important pun news now, regarding MGM’s decision to shut its Las Vegas operations:
Peru will close its borders to curb the spread of coronavirus, President Martin Vizcarra announced on Sunday.
Vizcarra also called on citizens to self-quarantine for 15 days. Peru has 71 cases of coronavirus, the government said.
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Back to the US Democratic presidential debate now.
When the conversation turned to climate change, Bernie Sanders argued the “existential crisis” requires the same level of response as the coronavirus pandemic.
Sanders argued Joe Biden’s proposals do not go far enough to combat climate change. “I know your heart is in the right place, but this requires dramatic, bold action” Sanders told Biden.
Pushing back against Sanders, Biden interestingly agreed to “no new fracking,” which goes much farther than his previous statements and could come back to haunt him during the general election.
In the US, Republican senator Lindsey graham has tested negative for coronaviurs, he announed on Twitter:
More on global deaths and infections overtaking those inside China now:
The most substantial infection centre outside China is in Italy, where there are nearly 25,000 confirmed infections and more than 1,800 deaths.
Elsewhere in Europe, which the World Health Organization described as the centre of the pandemic, France has 4,500 cases and 91 deaths, Germany has 11 deaths and more than 5,700 infections, the Netherlands has 20 deaths and 2,270 infections, Switzerland has 14 deaths and 2,200 infections, and the UK has 21 deaths and 1,144.
The next worst affected country is Iran, where there are just under 14,000 confirmed cases and 724 deaths. There are fears that the country’s fragile health services and economy are struggling to cope with the outbreak, and on Friday, satellite imaging appeared to show mass graves dug in the city of Qom to bury coronavirus victims.
You can read our full story on this development below:
The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that “MGM Resorts International announced Sunday that it would temporarily suspend operations at all Las Vegas properties, effective Tuesday.”
This includes its hotels and casinos. “The Las Vegas-based company operates the Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, The Mirage, Luxor, New York-New York, Excalibur and Park MGM. It also owns 50 percent of CityCenter, which includes Aria and Vdara,” the Journal writes.
Scandinavian airline SAS will temporarily halt most of its operations, the company announced on its website today.
Global deaths and infections from the coronavirus have surpassed those inside China for the first time since the beginning of the outbreak.
Worldwide infections have grown to more than more than 86,000, according to the Johns Hopkins university tracker, while cases inside China, stood at 80,860 as of Monday.
Deaths outside China have risen to more than 3,241, according to Johns Hopkins, while deaths inside China stand at 3,208 as of Monday (excluding four in Hong Kong and one in Taiwan).
A graph produced by Johns Hopkins university illustrated the dramatic rise of cases outside China. The angle of the curve appears to show that cases outside of China have grown even more rapidly than they did inside China at the start of the infection there.
Portugal will stop allowing tourists across its shared border with Spain for the next month in hopes of curbing the spread of the coronavirus, Portuguese prime minister António Costa has said.
Ashifa Kassam reports for the Guardian that the measures will not apply to workers who commute between both countries or goods that crossing the 1,200-kilometre shared border, he added, according to Agence France-Presse.
The measure only applies to those on leisure trips. “”There will be no tourism between Portugal and Spain in the coming months,” he told reporters.
Details of the travel restrictions, which will be enforced on those arriving both by land and flights, are expected to be ironed out by officials from both countries in the coming days. The prohibition is expected to last until at least Easter, said Costa.
“There is a good tradition of Spaniards visiting us during the Easter holidays. This year is not ideal for that visit,” Costa said.
With more than 7,750 cases and 288 deaths, Spain is Europe’’s second hardest-hit country in Europe by the coronavirus outbreak after Italy.
Portugal has so far reported just 245 confirmed cases.
Health authorities are imploring Mexicans to change lifestyles and deeply ingrained customs to slow the spread of the new coronavirus: Avoid physical greetings, keep your distance from others, avoid nonessential activities, among others. The message doesn’t seem to have sunk in with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who isn’t practicing what his own officials are preaching, AP reports.Health authorities are imploring Mexicans to change lifestyles and deeply ingrained customs to slow the spread of the new coronavirus: Avoid physical greetings, keep your distance from others, avoid nonessential activities, among others. The message doesn’t seem to have sunk in with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who isn’t practicing what his own officials are preaching, AP reports.
Touring the Mexican countryside this weekend, López Obrador gave a series of campaign-style speeches to crowds of townspeople touting his administration and barely mentioning the pandemic, saying Sunday that he has great faith that we are going to advance our beloved Mexico, no misfortune will hurt us, pandemics, none of that. On Saturday he waded through a crowd of fans jostling each other to get selfies with him outside a hotel, giving out hugs and even cradling and kissing a young girl on the cheek. Hours later, back in Mexico City, Health Department Deputy Secretary Hugo López-Gatell gave his daily evening news conference, soberly updating the country on the number of confirmed coronavirus cases 41, up from 26 the previous day and 11 the day before that and warning that the situation in Mexico is expected to get more serious soon. We have already said, it is highly recommendable starting today that we avoid greeting with handshakes, kisses, hugs. ... Let us greet each other in a way that we do not need to be inside the healthy distance, López-Gatell said.Touring the Mexican countryside this weekend, López Obrador gave a series of campaign-style speeches to crowds of townspeople touting his administration and barely mentioning the pandemic, saying Sunday that he has great faith that we are going to advance our beloved Mexico, no misfortune will hurt us, pandemics, none of that. On Saturday he waded through a crowd of fans jostling each other to get selfies with him outside a hotel, giving out hugs and even cradling and kissing a young girl on the cheek. Hours later, back in Mexico City, Health Department Deputy Secretary Hugo López-Gatell gave his daily evening news conference, soberly updating the country on the number of confirmed coronavirus cases 41, up from 26 the previous day and 11 the day before that and warning that the situation in Mexico is expected to get more serious soon. We have already said, it is highly recommendable starting today that we avoid greeting with handshakes, kisses, hugs. ... Let us greet each other in a way that we do not need to be inside the healthy distance, López-Gatell said.
The Australian sharemarket had clawed back some losses by midday after diving 7% at the opening bell, with the benchmark ASX200 index down 5.3% from Friday’s closing price.
In reactions to the coronavirus crisis this morning, Air New Zealand has cut 85% of its international flights and will cut jobs, Crown Resorts has closed every second poker machine at its casinos and hearing implant company Cochlear has withdrawn its previous profit forecasts.But the big development is that financial regulators are going to meet with the big banks this week. The immediate problem is that small to medium businesses have no money to repay their loans. Banks have said they will allow those customers to delay repayments, which in turn will put pressure on their own businesses.If small businesses start sacking people in droves, defaults on home mortgages become more likely. This is a potentially big problem for the banks, which have lent heavily against houses.
The Democratic Debate so far
The debate has paused for a short commercial break. Here’s where things stand so far:
Most of the first hour of the debate unsurprisingly focused on the coronavirus crisis, as Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders criticised the Trump administration’s response and emphasised the need to confront the crisis and adhere to medical experts’ guidance.
While answering the question about how he is limiting his potential exposure to coronavirus, Joe Biden tried to contrast his health to Bernie Sanders’. “Well fortunately I don’t have any of the underlying conditions you talked about,” Biden said. The line was a clear reference to Sanders’ heart attack in October, although it’s worth noting both candidates are in their late 70’s, putting them both in the highest-risk age group for coronavirus.
The debate has been more contentious than many commentators expected, considering the unfolding crisis. There was a testy exchange where Sanders criticised Biden for his refusal to disavow a super PAC supporting his candidacy and his past comments on potential cuts to social security.
Joe Biden vowed to choose a woman as his running mate if he won the presidential nomination. He also reiterated his first nominee to the Supreme Court would be an African-American woman, which would be a first for the country.
Sanders has delighted viewers after telling debate viewers to “go to the YouTube” to research about Biden’s record on social security, writes Max Benwell.
Donald Trump urged Americans to refrain from panic buying basic supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic as the administration announced plans to expand testing for the virus and health officials were preparing to release “advanced guidelines” on how to mitigate its spread.
During a press briefing at the White House on Sunday evening, Trump again appeared to downplay the threat of the novel coronavirus. “Relax, we’re doing great,” he said, during short, meandering comments that focused mostly on celebrating a decision by the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. “It all will pass.”
Vittorio Gregotti, an Italian architect who helped design the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics stadium, has died aged 92 after catching the coronavirus, Italian media said.
Gregotti died of pneumonia on Sunday after being hospitalised in Milan, having fallen ill with Covid-19, the Corriere della Sera newspaper and AGI news agency reported.
Argentina went into a full official lockdown Sunday evening as President Alberto Fernández announced the closing of the country’s borders to all arrivals, including the closure of its land borders with its South American neighbours, the suspension of all classes until March 31, permission for all persons who can work from home to do so in both the public and private sectors and a number of other important measures aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus here.
“Everyone who can, should stay home,” said the president in a press conference. Among the new measures are a mandatory leave of absence for all persons over 65, special bank and pharmacy hours for persons over 65 to reduce their exposure to large groups of people, the nationwide cancellation of all music shows and other entertainment events, the closure of shopping malls and a series of measures to restrict the flow of people on trains, subways and other forms of public transport.
“We’ve closed Argentina’s border for the next 15 days, except obviously for the entry of Argentine citizens or residents,” the president said. Argentina’s borders will nonetheless remain open for persons wishing to leave the country.
Argentina last week already closed the arrival of flights from the countries most affected by the virus, China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, all of Europe, the UK and the US, but that ban has now been extended to include even its closest neighbours, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay.
“We found that a number of people who had been in the most affected countries were entering across our land borders,” Fernández said, referring to persons who flew to a neighbouring country from Europe, the US or other affected countries and then entered Argentina by land.
The number of coronavirus cases in Argentina ascended to 56 confirmed cases Sunday, up from 46 Saturday, almost all involving persons arriving from Europe and the US, with the number of deaths remaining at two so far.
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Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd writes, of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic:
The New Zealand director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has assured the thousands of people in self-isolation it is safe to “walk, bike or do some gardening” outside, as long as they undertake those activities alone, and not in crowded public spaces.
“Going out for a drive, or a ride” is also ok, and Bloomfield said family and friends can visit or drop off supplies “to have a chat,” as long as they stay two metres away, and contact is not prolonged. The number of corona cases in New Zealand remains at 8. “It’s about physical distancing, in fact we need to be more socially connected at the moment” Bloomfield said.
Australia’s National Rugby League is making sure to wash its balls. Hopefully that helps ward off the virus despite the the packed crowd in attendance.
In the US, where Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are debating one another in an audience-less studio, an emerging theme has been the candidates mixing up coronavirus with other deadly diseases.
First of all Biden referred to coronavirus when he meant to say swine flu, then mispronounced H1N1 (which swine flu is also called).
It hasn’t gone unnoticed by Donald Trump Jr:
But Biden’s not the only one. Sanders later made a similar blunder, saying ebola instead of coronavirus, before blaming Biden for the error: