The post Spain, Germany eye lockdown as coronavirus returns appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>A host of countries around the world that were hailed for their responses to the coronavirus are now dealing with new outbreaks of COVID-19, calling into question their early successes and moves to reopen their economies.
Vietnam and Australia, which were praised for taking severe early steps to block the virus’ spread, are dealing with notable new outbreaks. In Europe, Spain and other EU countries that outpaced the U.S. in flattening the curve of COVID-19 cases this summer are facing pressure to clamp down again as they tentatively reopen public life.
“Contagion has fallen, but the numbers show that the virus continues to circulate, giving rise to outbreaks at local level, which have been identified and contained,” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told lawmakers in Rome on Tuesday as he announced that the country’s COVID-19 state of emergency would be extended into October.
“The international situation remains worrying, and what is happening in countries close to us obliges us to be watchful,” Mr. Conte said.
Japanese health officials are pressing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to consider reinstating tougher measures as the country experiences its worst infection rates since mid-April. They say it is far too early to declare victory.
“If the situation changes, the government may change its approach, and it’s vital to explain to the public the rationale behind any twists in its response to the pandemic,” Shigeru Omi, who heads a government subcommittee on COVID-19 measures, told the NHK network.
Over 16.5 million people around the world have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. Of those, 655,300 have died as of Tuesday evening and 9.6 million have recovered.
The U.S. leads the case number statistics by a wide margin, having reported over 4.3 million cases and 148,298 deaths. These numbers are nearly double those in Brazil, which has reported the second-highest number of cases at 2.4 million.
Critics of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak have repeatedly pointed to other governments that apparently proved far more effective in keeping infection rates and death totals low.
But the persistence of the virus and the rising fear of complacency in some capitals are forcing another look at the supposed success stories.
European outbreaks
Despite an extended travel ban on the U.S. and other COVID-19 hot spots, European countries such as Spain, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom are reporting new increases in cases. They began to tentatively reopen their economies and cities weeks ago after claiming to have a hold on the outbreaks.
Germany’s foreign ministry issued a notice Tuesday cautioning against travel to three regions in Spain because of “renewed high levels of infections and local lockdowns.”
Spain emerged as an early epicenter of COVID-19. It has reported 278,782 confirmed cases, 28,434 deaths and 150,376 recoveries. In June, it ended a state of emergency that had been declared because of the pandemic.
About the same time, Germany lifted its travel warning for the popular tourist destination after showing a decline in infections, but Spain has reported a spike in infection rates in the northern regions of Catalonia, Aragon and Navarre.
Catalonia’s government rejected Germany’s advisory and said it is “responsible” and “working to protect the life and health of people who live here or are visiting us.” Aragon’s regional office called the recommendation “discriminatory.”
Germany is facing its own struggles to contain a recent surge in new cases.
The country received international praise for its quick response to the health crisis and the relatively low death toll for its large population. However, Germany has reported over 3,600 coronavirus infections in the past week.
The head of Germany’s public health system said Tuesday that he is “very concerned” about the rising statistics.
“The rise has to do with the fact that we have become negligent,” Lothar Wieler, head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, told reporters.
“The new developments in Germany make me very worried,” he said. He urged people to abide by social distancing rules.
Summer travelers quickly took advantage of Europe’s reopening of borders, a move experts fear will cause a second wave of COVID-19.
“It is irrelevant if you are on holiday or at home,” Mr. Wieler said. “The holiday is as much a part of the precautions against the spread of COVID-19 as your work and home life. The setting is irrelevant.”
Asia on edge
In Asia, several countries that appeared to have a handle on the virus are returning to a state of lockdown after new cases spiked.
Vietnamese authorities this week rushed to evacuate 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, from its popular tourist destination of Da Nang after three residents tested positive for COVID-19.
The latest outbreak marks the first time in 100 days that Vietnam has recorded its first locally transmitted COVID-19 case.
Vietnam has also been hailed for implementing an aggressive strategy, including early testing and quarantining for travelers, to curb the virus’ spread. The country sealed off most of its borders to foreign travelers in March and still does not allow most international visitors.
Life has begun to return to normal in China, where the outbreak began late last year, but authorities have declared a “wartime” state in the northwestern region of Xinjiang and a lockdown after 47 new cases were found in one week in Urumqi. Before the current outbreak, the city had not reported any COVID-19 cases in almost five months, health authorities said.
Australian officials are fighting a particularly virulent wave of infections in Melbourne and have issued orders for a second lockdown after a new outbreak in its suburban regions.
Countries whose leaders decided to fight the pandemic their own way or denied that the coronavirus represented a threat are also being forced to recalculate.
North Korea, whose claims that it did not have a single COVID-19 case were widely disbelieved by epidemiologists, has just acknowledged its first case. The regime in Pyongyang blamed the transmission on a defector who had been in South Korea but returned home.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened an emergency meeting of government experts over the weekend. Outside experts warned that a major outbreak could easily overwhelm the North’s bare-bones health care system.
Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus, has likewise resisted the need for a strict response and has suggested that drinking vodka, using a sauna and playing ice hockey can curb the outbreak.
But Mr. Lukashenko’s suggestions appear to have failed him as he acknowledged Tuesday that he had been infected with the coronavirus and has since recovered.
“Today you are meeting a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on his feet,” he said. “This is what doctors concluded yesterday. Asymptomatic,” he said.
He added that 97% of the Belarusian population carries the virus asymptomatically, though he didn’t provide a source for the statistic.
As countries struggle to end COVID-19 outbreaks within their borders, the World Health Organization warned Tuesday that it was no time for any nation — regardless of the severity of their outbreaks — to be complacent.
“It’s going to go up and down a bit,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters.
“What we all need to get our heads around is this is a new virus and … this one is behaving differently,” she said. “The best thing is to flatten it and turn it into just something lapping at your feet.”
The post Spain, Germany eye lockdown as coronavirus returns appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The post Spain is safe, minister insists as British quarantine move sows dismay appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>MADRID/LONDON (Reuters) – Spain is safe for tourists and Spaniards, the government insisted on Sunday after Britain abruptly imposed a two-week coronavirus quarantine on travelers returning from there, a decision that filled holidaymakers with dismay.
Last year, Britons made up over a fifth of foreign visitors to Spain, which relies on heavily on tourism revenues, meaning the UK move could deal a hard blow to efforts to restart the Mediterranean country’s economy after months of lockdown.
“Spain is safe, it is safe for Spaniards, it is safe for tourists,” Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya told reporters.
The Spanish government will focus its efforts on trying to persuade Britain to exclude the Balearic and Canary islands from the quarantine measure, she said, adding that the prevalence of the virus in those popular travel destinations was much lower than in the United Kingdom.
Spain has seen COVID-19 cases rise in the last few weeks, and Britain announced late on Saturday it was taking the country off a safe-travel list. The quarantine took effect hours later.
The measure upset the plans of many people either on holiday or planning to take one and caused more disruption for airlines and tour companies.
While Gonzalez Laya avoided directly criticizing the UK move, British tourists traveling in Spain were more blunt.
“It’s a bit crazy considering the restrictions in place in Spain already are really good, with the masks, with disinfecting everything, with hand wash in the shops. That’s better than what we have in London,” Rich Lambert, a communications officer, said at Barcelona’s airport.
Britain has also advised against all but essential travel to mainland Spain, leaving the islands out of the advice but including them in the quarantine measure.
TUI UK, part of the TUI (TUIGn.DE), holiday company, said it would cancel all holidays to mainland Spain up to Aug. 9, while maintaining flights to the Balearic and Canary islands.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab defended the quarantine decision on Sunday, as a “real-time response” to a jump in infections in Spain. “We can’t make apologies … we must be able to take swift, decisive action,” he said on Sky News.
The opposition Labour Party’s health policy chief, Jonathan Ashworth, slammed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government for its “frankly shambolic” handling of the measure.
A woman stands at the EasyJet check-in desk at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Barcelona, Spain, July 26, 2020. REUTERS/Albert Gea
‘ABSOLUTE DISASTER’
Spain’s rise in COVID-19 cases has prompted most regions to impose rules for masks to be worn everywhere and, in several areas including Barcelona, calls for people to stay at home.
Most new cases have been concentrated in the northeastern region of Catalonia and neighboring regions, so a lot of the criticism focused on the fact that the quarantine also applies to areas which have been spared the brunt of the pandemic.
“This is ridiculous. There are almost no cases here and there’s a far higher chance of contracting it when I get back to Britain,” said John Snelling, 50, from Stratford-upon-Avon, who was on holiday in Menorca.
Britain has been the hardest-hit country in Europe by the pandemic. Spain was also badly affected, with more than 290,000 cases and over 28,000 deaths. It imposed very strict lockdown measures, gradually easing them earlier in the summer.
Norway last week reimposed a 10-day quarantine requirement for people arriving from Spain, while France advised people not to travel to Catalonia.
But a collapse of tourism from Britain would have far more of an impact on Spain, where tourism accounts for 12% of economic output. Britons make up the largest group of foreign visitors by nationality.
“This decision is an absolute disaster for the recovery, there’s no other way to see this,” Angel Tavares, head of European Economics at Oxford Economics consulting, said on Twitter, referring to the quarantine measure.
Maria Frontera, head of Mallorca’s FEHM hotel association said she was shocked by the UK move “just like the British citizens who were enjoying their holidays here in Spain.”
Reporting by Nathan Allen, Elena Rodriguez, Guillermo Martinez, Elizabeth Piper, Ingrid Melander, Michael Holden, Luis Felipe Castilleja, Jordi Rubio; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Nathan Allen; Editing by Frances Kerry and Pravin Char
The post Spain is safe, minister insists as British quarantine move sows dismay appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The post Spain reports lowest daily coronavirus death toll in 2 months appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The daily death toll from coronavirus in Spain dropped to 87 overnight, the lowest it’s been since the country enacted a lockdown due to the ongoing pandemic.
Spain — with a population of 46.9 million — has reported 230,698 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 27,563 deaths, and 146,446 recoveries, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
The development marks the first time since mid-March the country has reported less than 100 deaths from the virus in a 24-hour period. At the peak of the outbreak, Spain was reporting over 900 deaths per day, the health ministry said.
Fernando Simon, Spain’s Director for Health Emergencies, said during a press briefing Saturday that “while it is painful that people continue to die from coronavirus, the numbers are favorable.”
The post Spain reports lowest daily coronavirus death toll in 2 months appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The post When coronavirus hit Spain, this U.S. student opted to stay and help the most vulnerable appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>MADRID — When the coronavirus pandemic stuck and her family begged her to return home to Ohio, Stacye Toups was offered an offramp.
She didn’t even consider taking it.
Not only did she decide to stay in Spain, where she is studying medicine; she remained and volunteered to work in a hard-hit nursing home to help those most vulnerable to the respiratory illness.
“My thoughts were never to go home,” Toups, 30, said in an interview near her home in the capital, Madrid, despite her parents’ begging her to do so. “They’re constantly writing me,” she said. “It’s a never-ending battle with them. I don’t think I’ll ever have their full approval of me being here.”
Toups, a fluent Spanish speaker, moved abroad to teach English, and even in the midst of a global pandemic she has not regretted her decision to become a doctor. “This is my future job. This is my passion. This is my career. I wouldn’t run from it ever. I would encounter it head on.”
Spain has had more cases of infection than anywhere else in Europe and more than 26,000 deaths. The vast majority of those deaths — more than 17,000, according to a tally of local government figures — occurred inside Spain’s 5,400 nursing homes.
Toups, the only American in a class of 270 students, was more than halfway through her fourth year at the Autonomous University of Madrid’s faculty of medicine when the effects of the coronavirus first started to be felt in Spain. In late February, as the numbers of cases spiked, her parents, Bill and Mary, got in touch, sounding very worried.
“How much danger are you in with this virus?” her father, Bill Toups, 57, a safety consultant for industrial companies, asked in a text message. “If they start quarantining, what are you going to do? I don’t want you there if this is a possibility.”
Still, she stayed.
Then, in mid-March, the government imposed a lockdown. While classes continued online, all her practical training inside Madrid’s hospitals ended.
Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.
Toups was one of the very few American students, roughly 500, who decided to stay in Spain, according to estimates provided by the U.S. Embassy in Madrid.
On March 21, a roommate directed Toups to a Facebook group for foreign language teachers where someone had posted on behalf of a doctor friend requesting help at the nursing home where she worked. The post said that none of the home’s residents had contracted the virus but that there were still not enough workers.
“When I saw this, I was like, ‘Sign me up,'” she said. “I’d rather be doing that than studying.”
On March 23, when she arrived for her first day, she found residents spilling out of the regular medical rooms to fill a makeshift quarantine unit housing 50 patients.
“They were laying in these beds … I don’t want to say half-dead but — it’s definitely scary,” Toups said. “I expected these patients, these residents, to maybe have a cough or maybe just have a cold. They were just semi-unconscious.”
Her medical training and desire to help quickly overcame her initial worries, she said.
“It was just one moment of fear but the next moment of let’s figure this out, let’s do this, let’s work.”
In the weeks since Toups started her job, a third of the residents at the care home, 60 out of 180, have died of COVID-19. And when one of two doctors at the facility fell ill, too, it was Toups who covered her shifts, spending harrowing overnight hours as the most senior medical person onsite.
She begins her day around 2 p.m., often working past midnight, six or seven days a week in the nursing home’s “red zone” under layers of protective equipment, a mask and goggles.
The vast majority of the remaining residents have also tested positive, but most have recovered, and in the coming days the final patients in the facility’s remaining two quarantined areas will be discharged.
Madrid’s vast 6,000-bed COVID-19-focused field hospital closed at the start of this month, and the daily death toll in Spain has gradually fallen from its peak of almost 1,000 a day — in early April — to roughly a fifth of that, the same level it was when Toups began her job more than six weeks ago.
But the work continues to be draining, especially because she still must spend most of her morning before each shift studying for school. She said she has found the juggling “nearly impossible” and fears that she may have to repeat many of her subjects next year.
“If I had the chance to go back and choose working or studying,” she said, “I would still choose working.”
Her father said he was worried about the physical protection afforded her at the nursing home — but also about the bonds she has formed with patients.
“She’s passionate about the medical field, and then she’s also compassionate towards the people that she’s treating,” he said. “We had to keep reminding her: ‘We don’t want you to get too emotionally attached to this. How are you going to be able to handle this?'”
Still, while her decision to stay on and work in grueling and dangerous conditions may have frightened her family, it did not surprise them, according to her father.
“We expected it,” Bill Toups said by phone from his home in Loveland, Ohio. “We’re concerned, but we have to trust her judgment, as well.”
He added: “She doesn’t run away from anything.”
The post When coronavirus hit Spain, this U.S. student opted to stay and help the most vulnerable appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The post Spain sees lowest coronavirus death count rise in a month, global death toll tops 160,000 appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The coverage on this live blog has ended — but for up-to-the-minute coverage on the coronavirus outbreak, visit the live blog from CNBC’s U.S. team.
- Global cases: More than 2.33 million
- Global deaths: At least 161,000
- Most cases reported: United States (735,287), Spain (194,416), Italy (175,925), France (152,978), and Germany (143,724).
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of 8: 00 p.m. Beijing time.
All times below are in Beijing time.
6: 03 pm: Spain’s death toll increases by lowest number in a month
New deaths from the coronavirus in Spain increased by 410 on Sunday, the lowest rise in deaths in around a month for the country with the third-highest coronavirus death count in the world. The daily death increase on Saturday was 565, and the total has reached 20,453, according to the Spansh.
Sunday’s daily increase in deaths is the lowest since March 22. The peak in daily deaths thus far was 950 fatalities on April 2. The country’s health ministry also reported an increase in cases to 195,944 from 191,726 on Saturday.
Spain is likely to extend its lockdown until at least May 9, but the government is considering easing some restrictions.
“We have left behind the most extreme moments,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at a press briefing on Saturday, adding, “These achievements are still insufficient and above all fragile. We cannot put them at risk with hasty solutions.” —Natasha Turak
5: 02 pm: Malaysia confirms 84 new cases, 1 new death
Malaysian health authorities on Sunday confirmed 84 new coronavirus cases and one new death since Saturday, bringing the country’s total confirmed cases and deaths to 5,389 and 89, respectively. —Natasha Turak
4: 15 pm: Philippines reports 12 new deaths,172 more cases
The Philippines’ health ministry reported 12 new deaths from the coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the country’s total death toll to 409. Its cases rose by 172 in the preceding 24 hours to a new total of 6,259, and reported 56 patients having recovered, bringing its total confirmed recoveries to 572, the ministry said. —Natasha Turak
4: 13 pm: UK’s ‘Captain Tom’ Moore, 99-year-old war veteran, raises $31 million for NHS
The U.K.’s Captain Tom Moore, a 99-year-old World War Two veteran raising money for the country’s frontline National Health Service workers, raised a whopping £25 million ($31.3 million) on Sunday by walking 100 loops of his garden in a feat that has attracted worldwide media attention and praise from celebrities, government officials and royals alike.
“Congratulations to Tom. What he’s done is utterly amazing. It’s not just what he’s done but it’s the reaction that people have had as well. Just wonderfully British,” Prince Harry told Declassified, a podcast for veterans, this weekend.
World War II veteran Tom Moore is raising money for the NHS, by aiming to complete 100 laps of his garden by his 100th birthday at the end of April.
Moore had initially set out to raise £1,000 for the NHS by completing 100 rounds of 25 meters (82 feet) of his garden in Bedfordshire, central England before turning 100 on April 30. Using a walker with wheels, which he has used since breaking his hip, the retired army officer completed his goal on Thursday.
“I am still amazed by the amount of kindness and generosity from the U.K. public who continue to give despite it being an uncertain time for many,” Moore said in a statement Saturday. —Natasha Turak
MOSCOW, April 6, 2020 .Police officers wearing face masks patrol on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, on April 6, 2020. Russia has registered 6,343 cases of COVID-19 across most of its regions as of Monday, rising by a new daily record of 954, official data showed. (Sputnik/Handout to Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/ via Getty Images)
Xinhua News Agency
4: 10 pm: Russia sees biggest daily case rise yet at 6,060
Russia added another 6,060 new cases on Sunday — its highest daily rise yet, according to the Russian coronavirus crisis response center. The country’s total cases have reached 42,853 in a month that’s seen cases spike compared to previous months. —Natasha Turak
3: 48 pm: UK not thinking of lifting lockdown measures yet: Gove
The U.K.’s coronavirus lockdown, enacted nearly a month ago, will not be eased just yet, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Sunday.
“The facts and the advice are clear at the moment that we should not be thinking of lifting of these restrictions yet,” Gove told Sky News in an interview. The country has more than 115,300 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and more than 15,400 people in the U.K. have died from it, according to Johns Hopkins University. —Natasha Turak
An empty Westminster Bridge is pictured in front of Britain’s Houses of Parliament in central London on April 13, 2020, as life in Britain continues over the Easter weekend, during the nationwide lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic. –
GLYN KIRK
3: 21 pm: Singapore reports 596 new cases
Singapore’s ministry of health reported 596 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking its total cases to 6,588. The majority of the new cases come from dormitories that house migrant workers, as well as 25 permanent residents, the ministry said. —Natasha Turak
2: 18 pm: Australia calls for independent review of China’s handling of outbreak
Australia’s foreign minister called for an independent review of China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and said transparency from Beijing is needed.
“Transparency from China most certainly. Transparency from all of the key countries across the world who will be part of any review that takes place,” Marise Payne told ABC television on Sunday.
Asked what she wants to hear from China, she answered: “We need to know the sorts of details that an independent review would identify for us about the genesis of the virus, about the approaches to dealing with it, and addressing it about the openness with which information was shared.”
“The issues around the coronavirus are issues for independent review, and I think that it is important that we do that. In fact, Australia will absolutely insist on that,” she added.
As of 6 a.m. local time on Sunday, Australia reported 6,586 confirmed cases and 69 deaths related to Covid-19, its health ministry’s latest data showed. The ministry said there were 53 news cases overnight and 4,163 people have recovered. — Joanna Tan
1: 50 pm: India sends 5.5 million hydroxychloroquine tablets to UAE
After placing a ban on exports of hydroxychloroquine last month, India has agreed to send a shipment of the medicine to the United Arab Emirates to treat coronavirus patients, the UAE’s embassy in India said late Saturday. “The first shipment of medicine, currently on its way to the UAE, includes 5.5 million pills for treatment of patients with COVID-19,” the embassy said in a statement late Saturday. Sales of the medicine have skyrocketed since Trump endorsed it as potentially effective for treating Covid-19. —Natasha Turak
1: 48 pm: UK appoints ex-Olympic chief to look into manufacturing PPE
The United Kingdom has hired former Goldman Sachs investment banker, Paul Deighton, to organize the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical workers treating Covid-19 patients, Reuters reported.
The British government has been under tremendous pressure over shortages of protective gear for doctors and health-care workers as supplies run low for masks, gowns and equipment for those on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak.
Deighton was previously the chief executive of the 2012 London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and was appointed on Sunday by Health Minister Matt Hancock, Reuters said.
“He will lead a singular and relentless focus on PPE as the country’s top manufacturing priority, with the full weight of the government behind him,” Hancock was cited as saying. Deighton will not be paid for the role, Reuters said.— Joanna Tan
People enjoy the evening sun in the park next to the Schoeneberg town hall in Berlin on April 18, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.
Odd Andersen | AFP | Getty Images
12: 49 pm: Germany adds another 2,400 cases bringing total close to 140,000
Germany added another 2,458 new cases which brought its total number of infections to 139,897, the latest data from the country’s public health institute showed on Sunday. The latest number of new cases reported was much lower than the 3,609 infections announced on Saturday and 3,380 announced on Friday.
According to the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, the death toll now stands at 4,294 after 184 more people died.
Germany has the fifth largest number of reported infections world-wide, but its death toll stands relatively low compared to Italy, Spain and France which have reported at least 19,000 fatalities each, data from Johns Hopkins University showed. — Joanna Tan
A couple dancing on their balcony on April 18, 2020 in Madrid, Spain. Spain is beginning to ease strict lockdown measures to ease its economy,
Carlos Alvarez | Getty Images
11: 52 pm: Spanish prime minister to call for longer but less restrictive lockdown
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is set to ask the parliament to extend Spain’s lockdown until May 9, extending restrictions for another 15 days, Reuters reported. “We have left behind the most extreme moments,” Sanchez said at a press briefing, the news agency said. These achievements are still insufficient and above all fragile. We cannot put them at risk with hasty solutions.”
Spain has reported 194,416 cases of infection and 20,639 deaths so far, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. It has the second highest number of deaths in Europe, after Italy — the number of fatalities in Spain surpassed the 20,000 mark for the first time on Saturday. The government imposed lockdown measures on March 14 and the nation started easing some of those restrictions earlier this week by allowing some sectors like manufacturing to reopen, Reuters said. — Joanna Tan
10: 26 am: Global death toll rises to exceed 160,000, data from Johns Hopkins shows
The total number of deaths related to the new coronavirus has reached 160,518, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. The United States accounts for the highest number of fatalities worldwide, and has so far reported 38,835 fatalities, of which 13,517 were from the U.S. epicenter of New York City, the data showed.
Italy has the second-highest number of deaths, reporting 23,227 fatalities while Spain’s death toll currently stands at 20,639, Hopkins’ data showed. — Joanna Tan
10: 09 am: China says there were 16 new cases of Covid-19
China’s National Health Commission said Sunday that there were 16 new diagnosed cases of Covid-19, of which 9 came from those returning from overseas. The country, where the new coronavirus was first reported in the city of Wuhan, has reported 4,632 deaths and 82,735 cases so far.
There were 44 new asymptomatic infections, where people tested positive for the coronavirus but showed no symptoms. China started reporting asymptomatic cases in April. Factories and businesses are re-opening again after weeks of lockdown in varying degrees throughout the mainland. A slew of economic data on Friday showed that consumers are still wary of spending as the country reported its first quarterly GDP contraction since at least 1992. — Joanna Tan
9: 33 am: South Korea reports first single digit increase in new cases for the first time in 2 months
South Korea reported 8 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed. It was the first single digit daily increase for the first time in two months, according to Reuters. That brings the total number of reported cases in the country to 10,661.There were 2 additional deaths reported, bringing the total fatalities in the country to 234. — Joanna Tan
Foreign workers are seen outside their dormitory room at Cochrane Lodge I, which was declared as an isolation area on April 16, 2020 in Singapore. Singapore government reported a record of 447 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases on April 15, 404 of which are cases linked to the foreign worker dormitories, bringing the country’s total to 3699.
Suhaimi Abdullah | Getty Images
9: 11 am: Singapore reports a record high of 942 cases
Singapore added another 942 new coronavirus cases as of noon on April 18, bringing the total number of cases in the city-state to 5,992. It was the highest number of cases recorded in a single day for the Southeast Asian nation.
Of those infected, 4,162 were from dormitories housing foreign workers, data from the Ministry of Health showed. The men are typically from other Asian nations and most of them work in the construction sector. The country has reported 11 deaths related to Covid-19.
Since April 7, Singapore has been under new “circuit breaker” measures aimed at cutting down transmissions. Those measures include shutting down of schools and restriction of movements except for essential and urgent matters including buying food and groceries, seeking urgent medical help and exercising at safe distances. — Joanna Tan
All times below are in Eastern time.
5: 52 pm: Trump says Texas and Vermont will start reopening Monday
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Texas and Vermont will allow certain businesses to reopen on Monday while still observing coronavirus-related precautions and Montana will begin lifting restrictions on Friday.
“We continue to see a number of positive signs that the virus has passed its peak,” Trump told reporters at a daily briefing.
Some state governors have warned, however, that they will not act prematurely to reopen their economies until there is more testing.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Friday that some retailers will be able to resume “to go” services, or pickup and delivery, and that restrictions on elective surgeries would be eased. State parks will reopen on Monday for visitors wearing face masks, with social distancing required, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont announced that in certain low-contact professional services industries, firms could bring two people each back to work, starting Monday. Property management and construction firms can also operate with two-person crews, per the governor’s order, according to the VT Digger.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday that his state will begin to open up next week but did not provide details. —Associated Press and Tucker Higgins
3: 40 pm: Israel set to relax some lockdown restrictions
Israel will gradually ease its coronavirus lockdown from Sunday by letting some businesses reopen and relaxing curbs on movement after a slowdown in infection rates, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Authorities have steadily tightened a partial lockdown imposed on March 14, shuttering offices, closing schools and ordering people to stay mostly at home.
The measures have battered Israel’s economy, forced many businesses to close and sent unemployment above 25%.
But in televised remarks, Netanyahu said Israel had “succeeded in (its) mission so far” in combating the pandemic and argued that the restrictions had “proven themselves in a slowdown” in infection rates.
Israel has reported at least 164 deaths and nearly 13,300 cases of COVID-19, as of Saturday evening. However, infection rates have generally declined over the past two weeks, according to Israeli health ministry data. —Reuters
2: 55 pm: Lady Gaga’s One World: Together At Home is underway
Singer songwriter Lady Gaga partnered up with the World Health Organization and Global Citizen to organize a star-studded six-hour live concert to raise money for fighting coronavirus. The event started streaming on YouTube at 2 p.m. ET and a curated selection will be broadcast on all NBC networks, ABC, ViacomCBS Networks, The CW and iHeartMedia channels starting at 8 p.m. ET. Late night show personalities Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Jimmey Kimmel will host the broadcast.
Performers such as Billie Eilish, Lizzo, John Legend and Taylor Swift are slated to appear. The proceeds will support WHO and frontline health care workers. —Elisabeth Butler Cordova
Read CNBC’s coverage from the U.S. overnight: Global coronavirus cases top 2.3 million as pandemic forces businesses to shift plans
The post Spain sees lowest coronavirus death count rise in a month, global death toll tops 160,000 appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>