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.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/apr/08/coronavirus-live-news-us-trump-threatens-who-funding-uk-boris-johnson-global-cases-latest-updates

The article has changed 46 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 30 Version 31
Coronavirus live news: global trade forecast to fall by up to a third as US sees highest one-day death toll Coronavirus live news: global trade forecast to fall by up to a third as US sees highest one-day death toll
(about 1 hour later)
Scientists predict UK will be worst-hit country in Europe; Trump threatens to stop WHO funding; Global cases pass 1.4 millionScientists predict UK will be worst-hit country in Europe; Trump threatens to stop WHO funding; Global cases pass 1.4 million
The European Union has reshuffled its aid budget and promised €20bn (£17.5bn, ¢21.7bn) to help countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific tackle coronavirus, as well as near neighbours in eastern Europe, Jennifer Rankin reports from Brussels.
Following a conference call of EU development ministers, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell told journalists that he expected more than €20bn would be available to help countries around the world.
“Unless the virus is defeated everywhere, it will not be defeated anywhere,” he said.
The funds come from reorganising the EU’s existing aid budget. EU officials have insisted no country will get less than promised before the outbreak, while vital programmes on nutrition, sanitation, health and education will continue.
Earlier on Wednesday the EU announced €15.6bn in coronavirus aid, which includes €5.2bn in loans from the EU’s lending arm, the European Investment Bank.
Africa has been earmarked €3.25bn, while a further €3.07bn is for countries on or near the EU’s southern and eastern borders, including some Middle Eastern nations, as well as Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Turkey and the Balkans.
Borrell said Belarus had asked for help in tackling the virus and dealing with the impact on its economy, and could expect to get around €60m.
After the meeting it emerged EU member states had pledged €4bn, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was ready to offer €1bn, taking the total funds to more than €20bn. But it was not immediately clear how much of that money was grants or loans.
Borrell said Africa was a priority for the European Union, as the coronavirus could have “consequences of an entirely different scale than in other parts of the world”.
The World Health Organisation warned this week that cases were “increasing exponentially in the African region”, while local experts have stressed that sub-Saharan Africa lacks intensive care facilities, which could bring devastating results.
The European commission has advised EU member states to extend restrictions on non-essential travel until 15 May but is preparing to issue a “roadmap” on a coordinated lifting of Europe’s lockdown, Daniel Boffey, the Guardian’s Brussels bureau chief, reports.
Announcing the proposed extension of the travel ban, Margaritis Schinas, the European commission’s vice-President, said:
The commission guidance on travel was issued as a Brussels plan for lifting the lockdown was revealed in a document leaked to the Guardian.
Marked “absolutely confidential”, the paper which is expected be endorsed by the European commission next week, says “it is time to develop a well coordinated EU exit strategy” from the current measures. It says the easing should be done measure by measure on a month-by-month basis while admitting that it lead to new infections.
“Any level of (gradual) relaxation of the confinement will unavoidably lead to a corresponding increase in new cases”, the paper says.
The criteria for lifting restrictions include a decrease in the spread of infection over a sustained period and confidence in the ability of the health services to cope.
“The exit strategy must be coordinated between the Member States, to avoid negative spillover effects”, the document says. Measures that should accompany an easing of restrictions include an expansion of testing and an increase of availability of personal protective equipment.
The commission paper says: “The exit must be gradual: measures must be lifted in different steps and sufficient time should be left between the steps (e.g. one month), as their effect can only be measured over time. Wide measures must progressively be replaced by targeted ones. For example: Most vulnerable groups (e.g. the elderly) must be protected for longer.”
To allow for social distancing the commission suggests that restaurants and bars should be only gradually opened, with restricted opening hours or limits on the number of people allowed in. Schools should start with small groups of students being permitted to to return.
Deaths from coronavirus in Italy rose by 542 on Wednesday, 62 less than on Tuesday, while the number of people who are currently infected rose by 1,195, or 1.3%, according to figures from the civil protection authority, Angela Giuffrida reports.
There was a record day-to-day increase – 2,099 – in the number of people who have survived the virus, taking the total to 26,491.
Italy has registered 139,422 confirmed cases of the virus to date, including 17,669 deaths.
The Polish government has said it will pump another 100 billion zloty into its economy to save jobs during the coronavirus lockdown, AFP reports.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said businesses would not have to repay between 60 to 75 percent of the aid, which is equivalent to about 22 billion euros ($24 billion), or roughly 4.5% of national output.
The new “financial shield” is to complement an “anti-crisis shield” worth 47 billion euros that Warsaw unveiled in March to help the normally vibrant economy weather the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Business and employers associations complained loudly that the initial anti-crisis package fell short of their expectations and would not protect many from bankruptcy.
The total value of exceptional government spending “will exceed 300 billion zlotys, reaching 320 or 330 billion,” Morawiecki said in Warsaw.
Meanwhile, the Polish central bank (NBP) cut Wednesday its main policy rate by 50 basis points to a record low 0.50 percent.
As of 5pm on 7 April, of those treated in hospital in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 7,097 have died, the Department for Health and Social Care said. That is a rise of 938, up from 6,159 the previous day – the highest day-on-day rise so far.
As of 9am on 8 April, 282,074 tests have concluded, with 14,682 tests on 7 April.232,708 people have been tested, of which 60,733 tested positive.
The overall test figure excludes data from Northern Ireland, and test data from Charing Cross and Southampton has not been included because of a processing delay, the department added.
Human rights NGOs have called on the International Monetary Fund to include anti-corruption measures in coronavirus relief programmes to make sure the billions of dollars in funding it hands out reaches those most at need.
In a joint letter to the IMF board on Wednesday, Transparency International, Human Rights Watch and Global Witness called on the fund to “establish basic measures to ensure that the money received by countries is used in a transparent and accountable manner to reduce the risks of misuse and corruption”. The letter adds:
Residents in the Canadian province of Alberta are being warned to expect a grim future as the coronavirus pandemic — and collapse in oil prices—hit at the same time, Leyland Cecco reports.
Speaking in a televised address on Tuesday evening, the state premier, Jason Kenney, said medical experts in his government anticipated Alberta could see as many as 800,000 cases of Covid-19 by the end of summer on the current trajectory, with as many as 3,100 deaths, or as few as 400. An “elevated” scenario would result in 1 million infections and as many as 6,600 deaths.
“I know that these numbers can be overwhelming,” Kenney said. “But these models are not a done deal. I want Albertans to see them as a challenge.”
Currently, the province has 1,373 reported cases and 26 deaths.
Kenney also warned a collapse in oil prices has left the province has left the province in a dangerous situation, projecting as much as a quarter of the workforce could be out of a job.
“The shutdown in much of our economy is having a devastating impact,” Kenney told to an online energy conference earlier in the day.
An unemployment rate of 25% would be double Alberta’s worst numbers — set in 1984 — and worse than anything experienced in the rest of the country.
Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler said on Wednesday it planned to restart work at factories in Germany from 20 April, as a slew of car makers made plans to emerge from the coronavirus lockdown, AFP reports.
In a statement the company said:
But Daimler also said it would further roll out shorter hours for its German workers until 30 April, impacting “the majority of production ... as well as administration”.
Volkswagen said it would begin increasing production from 14 April in “a few” factories building car components, which are currently operating at much-reduced capacity.
Most of the company’s sites are closed until at least 19 April, but the group wants “to safeguard the supply of components to plants in China” after the Easter weekend.
BMW said on Tuesday it would extend a production stop until 30 April, while Ford’s European factories are on hold until at least 4 May.
A retirement home in Canada that lost nearly half its residents to coronavirus is scrambling to protect the remaining healthy inhabitants who lived alongside infected neighbours for nearly two weeks, Leyland Cecco in Toronto reports.
Pinecrest nursing home, a privately run facility in the town of Bobcaygeon, Ontario, has emerged as one of the country’s deadliest Covid-19 hotspots.
Twenty-seven of the home’s 65 residents have succumbed to the disease, and the spouse of one resident, who often volunteered at the home, has also died.
But it was not until last week – after 16 deaths – that sick residents at the home were finally separated from healthy residents, according to CBC News.
A respiratory outbreak at Pinecrest was first declared on 18 March. Three residents tested positive for Covid-19 shortly afterwards, and in the following weeks the virus tore through the home, overwhelming residents and infecting dozens of staff.
The layout of the facility complicated efforts to contain the outbreak. Pinecrest has a mix of private and semi-private rooms to house residents, as well as shared rooms that sleep four people. In some cases, however, only a curtain separated residents, even though staff told families that sick residents had been isolated, CBC reported.
In an unprecedented move, the Italian government has declared its seaports “unsafe” due to the coronavirus pandemic, and will not authorise the landing of migrant rescue boats until the end of the emergency, writes Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo.In an unprecedented move, the Italian government has declared its seaports “unsafe” due to the coronavirus pandemic, and will not authorise the landing of migrant rescue boats until the end of the emergency, writes Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo.
In a decree issued late on Tuesday, the government wrote that “for the entire duration of the health emergency, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, Italian ports cannot be classified as ‘safe places’ for the landing of people rescued from boats flying a foreign flag”.In a decree issued late on Tuesday, the government wrote that “for the entire duration of the health emergency, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, Italian ports cannot be classified as ‘safe places’ for the landing of people rescued from boats flying a foreign flag”.
The measure – the first of its kind in Italian history – appeared designed to prevent rescue boats from disembarking migrants in the upcoming weeks, as departures from Libya have increased in recent days with the arrival of good weather.The measure – the first of its kind in Italian history – appeared designed to prevent rescue boats from disembarking migrants in the upcoming weeks, as departures from Libya have increased in recent days with the arrival of good weather.
The decree, signed by the interior minister, Luciana Lamorgese, the health minister, Roberto Speranza, the foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, and the infrastructure minister, Paola De Micheli, also suggests that rescued migrants might include people who have contracted Covid-19.The decree, signed by the interior minister, Luciana Lamorgese, the health minister, Roberto Speranza, the foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, and the infrastructure minister, Paola De Micheli, also suggests that rescued migrants might include people who have contracted Covid-19.
It adds that “rescued people must be guaranteed an absence of any threat to their lives”, and concludes that at this time the government cannot guarantee the security of migrants’ lives in Italy.It adds that “rescued people must be guaranteed an absence of any threat to their lives”, and concludes that at this time the government cannot guarantee the security of migrants’ lives in Italy.
After the number of cases across the continent passed 10,000 last night, the World Health Organization’s Africa regional office has produced a graphic showing the national breakdown in case numbers.
The coronavirus death toll among black and Hispanic communities in New York City has been disproportionately high, the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.
Preliminary data indicates that black people account for 28% of the city’s COVID-19 death toll, even though they are just 22% of the city’s population, while Hispanic people are 34% of the city’s virus death toll and 29% of its population.
De Blasio acknowledged Wednesday that official death tolls are lower than reality because people who have died at home without being tested for the virus are not included.
Global trade could fall by up to a third this year, the World Trade Organization has said, with its director general issuing a warning that the suffering caused by Covid-19 will be compounded by “unavoidable declines in trade and output.”
In a trade forecast published on Wednesday, the WTO forecast 13-32% falls in global trade, giving a wide range because the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak was still uncertain. It said nearly all regions would suffer double-digit declines in trade volumes, with exports from Asia and north America worst affected.
The WTO said it expected a recovery next year, but that would be dependent on how long the pandemic lasted and the effectiveness of policy responses. WTO director-general, Roberto Azevêdo, said:
More than 250 epidemiologists and public health experts have called for a drastic increase in Covid-19 testing in Latin America and the Caribbean to tackle the spread of the coronavirus.
In an open letter, the scientists call on governments in the region and international organisations to urgently increase efforts to test and track infections. Pointing particularly to Bolivia, Mexico and Venezuela, they warn that evidence suggests the current extent of the outbreak is being badly underestimated.
“Social isolation measures will have little effect and will need to be extended if there are no complementary strategies to aggressively detect and track Covid-19 cases,” they warn.
The document, organised by Enrique Acosta, a research scientist at the Max Planck institute for demographic research’s population health lab, warns that Latin America is particularly vulnerable because of its precarious healthcare infrastructure, high prevalence of chronic conditions that are risk factors for Covid-19, and housing and economic conditions that preclude effective social distancing and confinement.
The letter states:
Here is the European Research Council scientific council’s response to the resignation of Mauro Ferrari. Seems like they are not sad to see him go.
The EU’s most senior scientist has resigned with a passionate denunciation of the bloc’s reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, claiming he has been blocked from funding treatments and vaccines, Daniel Boffey, the Guardian’s Brussels bureau chief, reports.
Mauro Ferrari, the president of the European Research Council, said he had been “deeply disappointed and disturbed” by the EU’s efforts in reaction to what he described as “a tragedy of possibly unprecedented proportions”.
“In time of emergencies people, and institutions, revert to their deepest nature and reveal their true character,” Ferrari wrote in a damning statement announcing his resignation.
Ferrari, a leading research scientist, who told the Guardian in January that his passion for funding breakthrough science had been fuelled by the death of his first wife from cancer, had served three months of his four-year term before handing in his letter of resignation to the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday.
In the letter, Ferrari writes:
The European parliament has pledged to give free meals to homeless people and health workers during the coronavirus crisis, Jennifer Rankin in Brussels reports.
The European parliament president, David Sassoli, said the European parliament in Brussels would distribute more than 1,000 meals a day, following an agreement with the city authorities.
The meals will be distributed from the Helmut Kohl building, an administrative annexe that is not part of the main European parliament headquarters in the Belgian capital.
The agreement follows a similar arrangement in the parliament’s Strasbourg home, where local authorities will take charge of part of a building to carry out coronavirus tests.
Officials said they could not give details on when the meals and tests would start, as these were up to local authorities in charge of the programmes.
In a statement, Sassoli said
The UK’s largest travel firm, Tui, has cancelled all its beach holidays for the next five weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, writes Miles Brignall, Guardian money reporter.
The travel giant said on Wednesday that all package trips up to and including 14 May were being cancelled, while all its Marella Cruises sailings have been suspended until at least June. Tui said:
Currently bookings for the May half-term, one of the busiest weeks in the holiday calendar are set to go ahead, although that looks unlikely. Earlier this week the Foreign & Commonwealth Office extended its ban on all but essential travel outside the UK, and said this would run until further notice.
Tui has told affected passengers not to contact the firm, and it will get in touch. It is currently only offering those with cancelled trips the chance to rebook, rather than the full refunds as required by law. Rory Boland, from the consumer group Which?, said:
In Spain, one family is speaking out after being wrongly told that their 84-year-old mother had died from Covid-19, writes Ashifa Kassam in Madrid.
The country has emerged as one of the hardest-hit by the virus, with more than 14,500 deaths, behind only Italy. Stories of confusion have accompanied the sharp rise in deaths, from cases of mistaken identity to days-long searches for the bodies of loved ones who have passed away.
For Mercedes Maroto, the saga began when her mother, Teodora, was admitted to a hospital in central Spain last month. Days later, after a full day had passed without any news, Maroto and her siblings began calling the hospital.
It took four attempts before they got a doctor on the line. He informed them that their mother had passed away, Maroto told Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
The news left the family reeling, particularly Maroto’s father. “He kept repeating, between sobs: ‘Now what do I do without you?’”
After a sleepless night punctuated with questions – How did she die? Did she suffer? Was she alone? – Maroto’s phone rang at 7:30am. This time it was the funeral home. “Your mother is alive. She didn’t die, they moved her to another floor,” Maroto said she was told.
Now the tears were of joy. “I thought I was dreaming,” said Maroto. She rushed over to the hospital where a doctor helped her speak to her mother on the phone.
While she described it as the “worst experience of her life”, Maroto shied away from casting blame, pointing to the chaos that has taken hold at Spanish hospitals as they scramble to treat the sudden influx of thousands of thousands of Covid-19 patients.
Her mother is now home and slowly regaining her strength. The family has yet to tell her about what El Mundo called the family’s own Easter resurrection tale. “Right now, she doesn’t know anything,” said Maroto. “We’ll tell her when she’s fully healed.”