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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
(32 minutes 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 White House press conference is live here:
You can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan with any questions or comments.
Fact check: ventilators
My San Franciscan colleague Maanvi Singh has a fact check on that Trump claim regarding where things stand with ventilators.
It looks like we’re in great shape from the bed standpoint. It looks like we’re in great shape from the ventilators standpoint,” Trump said.
However, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine published on Wednesday 25 March categorically concluded that the US does not have enough ventilators to treat patients with Covid-19 in the coming months.
The authors, American public health experts, wrote: ‘There is a broad range of estimates of the number of ventilators we will need to care for US patients with Covid-19, from several hundred thousand to as many as a million. The estimates vary depending on the number, speed, and severity of infections, of course, but even the availability of testing affects the number of ventilators needed.... current estimates of the number of ventilators in the United States range from 60,000 to 160,000, depending on whether those that have only partial functionality are included. The national strategic reserve of ventilators is small and far from sufficient for the projected gap. No matter which estimate we use, there are not enough ventilators for patients with Covid-19 in the upcoming months.”
Trump has just been asked by a reporter: “When are we going to open up?” referring to the economy.
Trump says he doesn’t want to give a date. “I had a date. It was very aspirational – Easter.”
Trump said Easter might still be a good date after all, but for flattening the curve. He said the government is no longer receiving new requests for ventilators, and that he’d like to be able to lend ventilators to US allies – and non allies, he adds, because “we’re saving lives.”
Trump has now left the podium.
Pence says that the losses of life that are being seen today are in many cases people who contracted the virus before strict measures and other aspects of the response came into effect.
But in new cases there is great progress, says Pence. “We continue to evidence of stabilisation.”
“We may – may – be reaching the point where the coronavirus is levelling off,” says Pence.
Hello, Helen Sullivan with you now. I’ll be sticking with Trump’s press conference for the time being – after all, he has just said: “I’m not a doctor, I think you’ve figured that out.”
He also says “I don’t know why President Obama hasn’t supported Joe Biden. There’s something wrong there.... It does amaze me that President Obama hasn’t supported sleepy Joe.”
At least some things haven’t changed.
The World Health Organization “hasn’t accomplished what it was intended to deliver” Pompeo has said, doubling down the president’s criticisms.The World Health Organization “hasn’t accomplished what it was intended to deliver” Pompeo has said, doubling down the president’s criticisms.
Trump has repeatedly sought to shift blame for the crisis on the WHO, alleging that it responded too late. On the same day the WHO raised the global risk from the virus to its highest level, the US president called it a “hoax”.Trump has repeatedly sought to shift blame for the crisis on the WHO, alleging that it responded too late. On the same day the WHO raised the global risk from the virus to its highest level, the US president called it a “hoax”.
The state department is working to repatriate Americans abroad, according to the secretary of state Mike Pompeo.The state department is working to repatriate Americans abroad, according to the secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
“We still have several thousand” US citizens abroad, in some cases in remote areas. Efforts to bring them home are ongoing, and “we will keep it up” Pompeo said.“We still have several thousand” US citizens abroad, in some cases in remote areas. Efforts to bring them home are ongoing, and “we will keep it up” Pompeo said.
Asked whether he thinks China has withheld information and whether the US will act on the president’s suspicion China has not been accurately reporting coronavirus data, Pompeo said, “This is not the time for retribution, but it is still the time for clarity and transparency.”Asked whether he thinks China has withheld information and whether the US will act on the president’s suspicion China has not been accurately reporting coronavirus data, Pompeo said, “This is not the time for retribution, but it is still the time for clarity and transparency.”
Pompeo avoided calling the coronavirus the “China virus” or “Wuhan virus” as he as in the past.Pompeo avoided calling the coronavirus the “China virus” or “Wuhan virus” as he as in the past.
In Washington, the US president Donald Trump is giving his daily briefing. He has wished the UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson well.In Washington, the US president Donald Trump is giving his daily briefing. He has wished the UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson well.
On Tuesday, Trump detailed how he plans to help Johnson, by alerting his doctors in London to “some very good potential cures” that US companies are exploring.On Tuesday, Trump detailed how he plans to help Johnson, by alerting his doctors in London to “some very good potential cures” that US companies are exploring.
UK police chiefs want the government to consider toughening coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the Guardian has learned, as they head into the Easter bank holiday weekend with concerns that a growing minority will flout the rules.UK police chiefs want the government to consider toughening coronavirus lockdown restrictions, the Guardian has learned, as they head into the Easter bank holiday weekend with concerns that a growing minority will flout the rules.
Vikram Dodd, Gregory Robinson and Jessica Murray write that more stringent restrictions to prevent people driving long distances are among options supported by at least five chief constables who want enforcement action to be bolstered by clearer and tougher government curbs. Other options include using legislation to enforce the order to limit exercise to once a day.Vikram Dodd, Gregory Robinson and Jessica Murray write that more stringent restrictions to prevent people driving long distances are among options supported by at least five chief constables who want enforcement action to be bolstered by clearer and tougher government curbs. Other options include using legislation to enforce the order to limit exercise to once a day.
Two of Britain’s biggest Olympic sports have become the latest to announce plans to furlough staff because of the pandemic.Two of Britain’s biggest Olympic sports have become the latest to announce plans to furlough staff because of the pandemic.
British Cycling is to avail of the government’s job retention scheme to cover 80% of the wages of 90 staff – approximately one third of its workforce – in April and May as it faces a drop in income of around £4m. UK Athletics also plans to furlough up to 12 of its head office staff as it also braces itself for a significant loss of revenue.British Cycling is to avail of the government’s job retention scheme to cover 80% of the wages of 90 staff – approximately one third of its workforce – in April and May as it faces a drop in income of around £4m. UK Athletics also plans to furlough up to 12 of its head office staff as it also braces itself for a significant loss of revenue.
Concerns about a potential outbreak in Yemen, where no cases have been reported so far, are partly behind a decision to call a halt to the military action there that has left tens of thousands died and spread hunger and disease, a Saudi-led coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki has said.
The coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement has said it will call a nationwide ceasefire in support of UN efforts to end the five-year war.
The move aims to facilitate talks sponsored by the UN’s special envoy, Martin Griffiths, for a permanent ceasefire. It will go into effect at midday on Thursday for two weeks and is open to extension, al-Malki has said.
The president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, has announced that restrictive measures to combat Covid-19 will be extended through Orthodox Easter to the end of April.
In a televised address, the Greek Cypriot leader said to do otherwise “could be catastrophic” even if the measures, which include a night curfew, appeared to have yielded “a ray of light.”
Easter is the biggest religious holiday for Eastern Orthodox faithful who will be celebrating on 19 April. But, acknowledging that the regulations would be “painful”, Anastasiades said:
The European Union’s most easterly member state, Cyprus, like Greece, has enforced strict restrictions against the spread of the potentially lethal disease, curbing freedom of movement since 16 March.
Authorities will also aggressively expand testing, Anastasiades added, saying an estimated 20,000 workers in the private and public sector, as well as the National Guard, would be tested for the virus. The government will roll out relief measures for employees and businesses until 12 June, he said.
Health authorities in the war-divided island’s Greek-south have identified 1,256 cases of the novel virus and reported nine Covid-19 related deaths. Three fatalities have been reported in the Turkish-held north, where 95 confirmed cases have also been announced.
Fears over the devastating impact coronavirus could have on South America’s indigenous communities have grown after a teenager from Brazil’s Yanomami people tested positive for the illness in the Amazon.
The 15-year-old is reportedly being treated in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima, the northern Brazilian state where much of the Yanomami reserve is located.
The teenager was admitted last Friday complaining of chest pains, breathing difficulties and a sore throat and tested positive for the illness on Tuesday.
It comes after indigenous groups across South America blockaded their villages and retreated into their traditional forest and mountain homes in an effort to escape the potentially cataclysmic threat of coronavirus.
Real Madrid have become the latest Spanish sports club to apply pay cuts to alleviate the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis.
The players and coaching staff of the football and basketball teams have joined executives in other departments in lowering their salaries by up to 20% in order to ensure that non-sporting employees are not affected and to help the club. The cuts were “voluntary”, a statement said – in contrast to those at Barcelona, Alavés and Atlético, which used the government’s ERTE scheme to unilaterally impose temporary reductions.
The US army corps of engineers says time is running out to build new facilities to help in efforts to combat the pandemic. Lt Gen Todd Semonite has said:
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has offered his full support to the World Health Organization (WHO) in a call with its director a day after his US counterpart’s criticism of the international organisation. An official has told the Reuters news agency:
Reacting to the news, the leader of Luton’s council, Hazel Simmons, has said:
It comes after the BBC reported that seven residents of an east London care home had died. Another 21 residents are displaying Covid-19 symptoms at the Hawthorn Green home in Stepney, which houses 48 people, according to the broadcaster.
A single care home in the English county of Bedfordshire has lost 15 residents; five of whom had tested positive for Covid-19, officials say.
Public Health England (PHE) has confirmed the deaths and said it does not recommend testing new cases in care homes when some patients have already tested positive “as it will not change the public health management”.
A PHE spokeswoman was not immediately able to clarify when the deaths at the 69-bed Castletroy Residential Home in Luton had occurred.
Sultan Salimee, a consultant in health protection at PHE East, said experts were working closely with the home providing advice to stop the virus spreading.
The state of emergency in Peru has been extended for two more weeks to 26 April, the country’s president Martín Vizcarra has said.
He announced the extension, which includes a nationwide quarantine in the world’s second largest copper producer, as it reached 2,954 confirmed cases of the virus and 107 deaths. The first confirmed case in Peru was on 6 March.
Malta has recorded its first coronavirus victim, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. It quotes Malta’s deputy prime minister Chris Fearne as saying a 92-year old woman with underlying health issues has died.
The woman had been living in an old people’s home in Gozo, according to Maltese media reports. The Mediterranean island has recorded 299 infected people since its first case on 7 March. Fearne said: