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Coronavirus live news: rise in Italy, US and France deaths takes global confirmed toll past 40,000 Coronavirus live news: rise in Italy, US and France deaths takes global confirmed toll past 40,000
(32 minutes later)
Worldwide confirmed cases pass 800,000 as Spain and Russia report also record single-day death tolls and Mexico wakes to state of emergencyWorldwide confirmed cases pass 800,000 as Spain and Russia report also record single-day death tolls and Mexico wakes to state of emergency
Dr. Birx is speaking now.
She says that it’s not possible to answer the reporter’s question until antibody testing is possible.
“We need to see was the virus circling in February, in early March.”
She says her and Dr. Fauci is focussed on getting testing to determine that.
“If there was no virus in the background there was nothing to mitigate,” Dr. Fauci jumps in to say.
The presser is live here, by the way:
Trump is being asked whether, if the US had started social distancing and other measures earlier, would the modelling be different.
Trump says he had a decision to make early on, because “thousands and thousands” of infected people were coming to the US. He decided against the wishes of many to stop that, Trump says.
Now he is laying into New York again.
“New York started late the others didn’t start so late.”
As the White House predicts that between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans will die from coronavirus, Trump is arguing that he is saving the country from a much worse fate.
He says 100,000 is in fact a very low number, according to modelling.
Helen Sullivan with you now, taking over from my colleague Damien Gayle. You can contact me directly on Twitter with questions or news @helenrsullivan.
We’re staying with US president Donald Trump’s White House briefing for now, as the numbers being given for the predicted deaths in the country, which currently accounts for 1 in 5 cases worldwide, are pretty shocking – not only that, but the way they are being presented is insensitive, to say the least:
US president Donald Trump said a few minutes ago, addressing the media, that the country is “going to go through a very tough two weeks,” striking a more somber tone than he has at previous briefings. “This is going to be a very, very painful two weeks.”
There will be“light at the end of the tunnel,” he added. We are going to see things get better “all of a sudden” like a “burst of light.”
White House predicts up to 240,000 deaths
The White House has predicted 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the US from coronavirus pandemic, even with mitigation measures. This isn’t the first time that the task force scientists have presented these grim projections.
But Birx said the model doesn’t assume every American does everything they’re supposed to do, “so it can be lower than that,” she said.
“Our hope is to get that down as much as we can,” Fauci added. The numbers are what “we need to anticipate, but that doesn’t mean that that’s what we’re going to accept.”
Ethiopia’s election, set for August, has been postponed as the national election board said Tuesday the coronavirus makes it impossible to prepare.Ethiopia’s election, set for August, has been postponed as the national election board said Tuesday the coronavirus makes it impossible to prepare.
The vote has been highly anticipated in a country that has seen sweeping political reforms in the past two years but a surge of violence as some people use the new freedoms to settle old scores. Both the government and opposition camps have expressed support for the election board’s decision. With the government’s mandate expiring in a few months, lawmakers are expected to vote to extend it. This is the first major election in Africa to be postponed because of the coronavirus. Several African countries have upcoming presidential votes this year, including Burundi and Tanzania.The vote has been highly anticipated in a country that has seen sweeping political reforms in the past two years but a surge of violence as some people use the new freedoms to settle old scores. Both the government and opposition camps have expressed support for the election board’s decision. With the government’s mandate expiring in a few months, lawmakers are expected to vote to extend it. This is the first major election in Africa to be postponed because of the coronavirus. Several African countries have upcoming presidential votes this year, including Burundi and Tanzania.
The pandemic is a preview of the types of global health threats that will emerge as the planet becomes hotter, and how it is tackled has implications for dealing with climate threats as well, health experts have warned.The pandemic is a preview of the types of global health threats that will emerge as the planet becomes hotter, and how it is tackled has implications for dealing with climate threats as well, health experts have warned.
Mandeep Dhaliwal, the director for HIV, health and development for the UN development programme, has said:Mandeep Dhaliwal, the director for HIV, health and development for the UN development programme, has said:
According to a report from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Dr David Nabarro, a special envoy to the World Health Organization (WHO) on the pandemic, added that about a third of the world’s countries are on lockdown.According to a report from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Dr David Nabarro, a special envoy to the World Health Organization (WHO) on the pandemic, added that about a third of the world’s countries are on lockdown.
That is forcing leaders into “awful political tradeoffs” between protecting lives and keeping economies functioning – the kind of tradeoffs that could become more frequent as climate-linked disasters from wildfires to drought worsen.That is forcing leaders into “awful political tradeoffs” between protecting lives and keeping economies functioning – the kind of tradeoffs that could become more frequent as climate-linked disasters from wildfires to drought worsen.
The actor, Idris Elba, has said he is not showing symptoms for Covid-19 after testing positive for the virus, as he shared a message of encouragement with fans. Earlier this month, he said he would be self-isolating with his wife Sabrina Dhowre after doctors told him he had been infected.The actor, Idris Elba, has said he is not showing symptoms for Covid-19 after testing positive for the virus, as he shared a message of encouragement with fans. Earlier this month, he said he would be self-isolating with his wife Sabrina Dhowre after doctors told him he had been infected.
The former Marseille president Pape Diouf has died, the French league (LFP) has announced. The club had earlier revealed he had been suffering from Covid-19. Diouf was being treated in a hospital in Senegal after contracting the virus.The former Marseille president Pape Diouf has died, the French league (LFP) has announced. The club had earlier revealed he had been suffering from Covid-19. Diouf was being treated in a hospital in Senegal after contracting the virus.
Diouf became the first black president of a first-tier European club when he took the position at Marseille in 2005.Diouf became the first black president of a first-tier European club when he took the position at Marseille in 2005.
People in the Italian city of Naples have been filling bread baskets with hot and cold food, and lowering them from their balconies for homeless people and those struggling during the nationwide lockdown.
The initiative started in one street, but has been copied by other residents in the city. Lucarriello, who filled a basket, said it was important to look after each other while people waited for state intervention:
In the UK, the Chemical Industries Association has responded to the government’s claims that a shortage of chemical reagent is behind the lack of Covid-19 tests, saying reagents are being produced and delivered to the NHS.
The world faces its most challenging crisis since the second world war, the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has warned, saying the pandemic threatens every country and is likely to bring a recession without parallel in the world’s recent past.
There is also a risk that the combination of the disease and its economic impact will contribute to greater instability, unrest, and conflict, he said at the launch of a report on the socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19.
In Wales, a field hospital is being set up at the Vale Resort near Cardiff, providing 290 beds for the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board.
The facility is being set up with the support of local authorities, the military and contractors. Two further field hospital sites are being worked on in the area and will be confirmed at a later date.
Britain’s biggest banks have agreed to scrap payouts to shareholders and are expected not to pay out any bonuses to senior staff, after a request from the Bank of England.
The Prudential Regulation Authority, which is part of the Bank, said Standard Chartered, NatWest, Santander, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays have all agreed to drop their dividends and share buybacks until the end of the year, and cancel outstanding dividends from 2019.
It comes as the UK prepares for a potential recession. The PRA said that the decision is a “sensible precautionary step given the unique role that banks need to play in supporting the wider economy through a period of economic disruption”.
Oman’s health ministry has reported its first death – a 72 year-old Omani man – state TV has reported on Twitter. Oman reported that, as of 31 March, 192 cases have been identified.
The charity Women in Prison has welcomed the UK government’s decision to release pregnant women from prison but has called for further releases to prevent “avoidable” deaths.
The Ministry of Justice has already said it will temporarily release pregnant women and inmates in mother and baby units in prison who pass a risk assessment. There are 35 pregnant women and 34 women in mother and baby units and the department expects most to be released. Dr Kate Paradine, chief executive of Women in Prison, has said:
Over in Greece authorities have announced that an asylum seeker has contracted coronavirus, in what has been the first case of a refugee testing positive for the potentially lethal disease since the outbreak of the virus at the end of February.
Manos Logothetis, a senior official at the migration ministry, told the Guardian that a woman was diagnosed with the virus two days after giving birth in an Athens hospital on 28 March.
The woman, accommodated in a migrant camp hosting up to 2,500 people on the Greek mainland, remained in the hospital.
As the first recorded case among tens of thousands of migrants and refugees living in vastly overcrowded holding facilities in the country, the news has been received with trepidation. More than 42,000 men, women and children are currently held in reception centres on the five Aegean islands – Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos – facing the Turkish coast.
Appalling conditions in the camps provide what medics fear are exceptionally high-risk environments for Covid-19 to spread. “Authorities are tracing her recent contacts,” the health ministry spokesman and infectious diseases expert, Sotiris Tsiodras, told reporters on Tuesday. A man who lived with the woman had tested negative, he said.
To date, Greek officials have confirmed 1,314 cases of coronavirus. The Covid-19 death toll currently stands at 49 – much lower than in other European countries.
Of the 102 new cases reported overnight, 20 had originated from the staff of a passenger ship, chartered by a US cruise operator, and anchored off Piraeus.
Mark Stephenson, a family friend, has said the boy’s mother and six siblings are now awaiting the results of a postmortem.
Ismail’s family said they were “beyond devastated” by his death, in a statement released to PA Media through Stephenson.
Stephenson, the college director at the Madinah College where Ismail’s sister works, has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral costs.The page says:
According to the Press Association, the victim was 13-year-old Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab from Brixton, in south London. His family has said he died in hospital in the early hours of Monday and had no apparent underlying health conditions.