| As world hunkers down, Trump moves full-speed against US foes Posted: 27 Mar 2020 04:43 PM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic is shaking up the world, but not US foreign policy. As billions hunker down to halt the spread of the virus, President Donald Trump has only ramped up sanctions and other pressure against frequent targets such as Iran and Venezuela. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has led calls for an "immediate global ceasefire" to refocus on fighting COVID-19 and on Friday appealed for the "waiving of sanctions that can undermine countries' capacity to respond to the pandemic."
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| UN health agency settles in for long fight with virus Posted: 27 Mar 2020 03:05 PM PDT  The World Health Organization's emergencies chief said Friday that widespread testing for the new coronavirus is crucial and countries should not be faulted for reporting higher numbers of cases. The comments from Dr. Michael Ryan suggested a change in mindset at WHO and the U.N. health agency's increased resignation that the virus first identified in China late last year will be around for a while.
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| U.S. Infections Top 100,000; L.A. Warns of Surge: Virus Update Posted: 27 Mar 2020 02:51 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. became the first country to reach 100,000 coronavirus cases. Italy had its deadliest day with almost 1,000 fatalities. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his health secretary tested positive.President Donald Trump ordered General Motors to start making ventilators by invoking a Cold War-era law. Toyota's idled U.S. manufacturing facilities will make much-needed face shields and masks.New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said new infections will be "astronomical." Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned his city may see a New York-like surge in less than a week.Key Developments:Cases top 585,000; 26,800 dead, 130,000 recovered: Johns HopkinsU.S. cases top 100,000, more than Italy, ChinaU.S. ramps up virus testing, but demand still outpaces supplyWorkers critical to world's food supply falling illU.K. orders unprecedented shutdown of housing marketTokyo braces for critical weekendFrom Spain to Germany, farmers warn of fresh food shortagesSubscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg's Prognosis team here.Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus and here for maps and charts. For analysis of the impact from Bloomberg Economics, click here. To see the impact on oil and commodities demand, click here.U.S. Becomes First Nation With 100,000 Cases (5:27 p.m. NY)The U.S. became the first country to surpass 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Friday, a day after it overtook China to become the largest outbreak in the world. America's most prominent hot spots are New York and New Jersey, which together account for half the country's total cases. California has more than 4,000.L.A. Warns of New York-Level Surge in Five Days (5:06 p.m. NY)Los Angeles could see a coronavirus surge similar to New York City's in five days if the spread continues at the rate it's been going, Mayor Eric Garcetti said."We will have doctors making excruciating decisions," Garcetti said at a press briefing alongside Governor Gavin Newsom. They spoke in front of the U.S. Navy hospital ship Mercy, which docked in Los Angeles to lend extra medical space for non-coronavirus needs. It will be the largest hospital in the city, Garcetti said.Rhode Island Stops Cars With N.Y. Plates (5 p.m. NY)Rhode Island police, aided by the National Guard, on Saturday will conduct house-to-house searches to find people who traveled from New York to demand they begin 14 days of self-quarantine. State police are already stopping cars with New York license plates."Right now we have a pin-pointed risk," Governor Gina Raimondo said. "And that risk is called New York City."Raimondo, a Democrat, said she consulted lawyers and while she couldn't close the border, she felt confident she could enforce a quarantine. Many New Yorkers have summer houses in the state, especially in tony Newport, and the governor said authorities would be checking there.Trump Signs $2 Trillion Stimulus Bill (4:47 p.m. NY)President Donald Trump signed the largest stimulus package in U.S. history, a $2 trillion aid bill intended to rescue the economy. The plan will provide a massive injection of loans, tax breaks and direct payments to large corporations, small businesses and individuals whose revenue and income have plummeted under social distancing restrictions.Read full story hereFour Die on Holland America Cruise Ship (4:30 p.m. NY)Carnival Corp.'s Holland America line said four passengers died on its Zaandam ship, which has had an outbreak of flu-like symptoms on board, including at least two confirmed cases of Covid-19. The cruise line said the passengers were "older" but didn't say how they died.The Zaandam, currently near Panama, was still at sea when cruise companies halted new voyages earlier this month.Trump Orders GM to Make Ventilators (4 p.m. NY)President Donald Trump ordered General Motors Co. to immediately begin making ventilators, invoking a Cold War-era defense act amid productive talks with the automaker."Our negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators have been productive, but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course. GM was wasting time," Trump said in a statement. "Today's action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives."GM and ventilator maker Ventec Life Systems Inc. had much of what they needed in place to ramp up production of the breathing machines. They were just waiting on the Trump administration to place orders and cut checks.Belgium May Keep Limits Until May 2 (3 p.m. NY)Belgium extended restrictions on citizens and businesses, which took effect March 14, by two weeks until April 19, and Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes signaled a further extension to May 3, saying it's too early to declare the epidemic under control. Belgians must stay at home except for essential activities such as grocery shopping. Gatherings by more than two people are banned and stores selling non-essential goods remain closed.N.Y. Seeks Aid for Four New Hospitals (2:45 p.m. NY)New York is seeking federal assistance for four new emergency hospitals, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, as the number of state deaths spiked 35% in a day to more than 500.The new sites would join four centers the U.S. is setting up in the city, he said. The state wants more beds for Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties. Cuomo spoke from the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan's west side, which is being converted into a 1,000-bed emergency hospital that will open Monday.Cuomo said current demand for medical equipment is adequately covered and that the state is stockpiling additional supplies for a potential peak of infections three weeks from now. "We don't need them yet," he said. "We need them for the apex."The governor said he would keep the state's schools closed for an additional two weeks, at which time the situation will be reassessed.Luxembourg Plans to Test for Herd Immunity (1:30 p.m. NY)Luxembourg is in an intensive planing phase to be among the first nations to research so-called herd immunity based on new blood tests the country is expecting to get, Health Minister Paulette Lenert said Friday.The new tests wouldn't check for Covid-19 infections but whether people have developed immunity against the new virus. Luxembourg, due to its small population of just over 600,000 people, is in a fortunate position to do this, the minister said. Scientists would be able to test samples that would be representative of the entire population, the minister said.Italy's Daily Toll Nears 1,000 (12:35 pm. NY)Italy had its highest daily death toll even as the number of new cases declined on Friday. Fatalities shot up to 969, the most in a 24-hour period since the start of the outbreak.New infections totaled 5,959, compared with 6,153 the previous day, civil protection authorities said at their daily news conference in Rome. Italy now has 86,498 total cases, roughly the same number as the U.S. and more than China, where the disease's first outbreak occurred.U.S. Buys More Ventilators (12:30 p.m. NY)President Donald Trump said the federal government bought "many ventilators" from several companies he didn't identify. Trump in a tweet said the names will be announced later.State and local officials have been pleading with the federal government for more ventilators as cases of the coronavirus mount.France Extends Restrictions (12:20 p.m. NY)French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said public confinement is being extended to April 15. The restrictions could be further extended if needed, he said in a press conference after a cabinet meeting on Friday. A scientific committee consulted by the government recommends at least six weeks of confinement, he said.Portugal's Cases Rise 20% (12:14 p.m. NY)Portugal's cases rose 20% to 4,268 from 3,544 a day earlier, the government's Directorate-General of Health said. That compares with a daily increase of 18% reported Thursday and a 27% rise on Wednesday. The total number of deaths increased to 76 on Friday from 60 reported through Thursday morning.Director-General of Health Graça Freitas said the data suggest the peak won't be a moment in time but rather a plateau, and may not occur before May.Libya, Syria Face Catastrophe: WHO (11:35 a.m. NY)Libya reported its first case this week, meaning 21 of 22 Eastern Mediterranean nations have infections. The World Health Organization said Libya's capacity to respond is extremely limited in some areas and non-existent in others, with a large movement of people from neighboring countries.The outbreak also threatens to cause a catastrophe in Syria, the WHO said. Half of the nation's hospitals are not functioning after nine years of war and thousands of health workers having fled the country. Millions of displaced people live in overcrowded camps in the country's northwest, but after two days of tests using 300 WHO kits, no cases so far have been detected, the agency said.Toyota Shifts Factories to Face Shields (11:07 a.m. NY)Toyota Motor Corp.'s idled manufacturing facilities in the U.S. will make much-needed face shields and masks, and the Japanese automaker is closing in on deals with medical-device makers to help them boost production.The carmaker said Friday it will start mass production of face shields early next week to supply hospitals near its plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Texas. Toyota also said it is finalizing pacts with at least two companies to make breathing ventilators and respirator hoods, and it's looking for partners to make protective masks. The company on Thursday extended its shutdown of North American factories for two weeks.U.K. Virus Deaths Jump 30% (10:29 a.m. NY)The number of people in the U.K. who have died from coronavirus increased by 31% to 759 as of Thursday, the Department of Health said. That's higher than the five-day average of 20%.Some 14,579 have tested positive for the disease as of Friday, an increase of about 25%, above the five-day average of 20%.Two Fed Bankers Confident of Rebound (10:29 a.m. NY)Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan expressed confidence the U.S. economy will rebound when restrictions on activity are lifted."This is a public health crisis" and different from a typical recession, Bostic said on Bloomberg Television Friday. Kaplan offered a similar view a few minutes earlier. "We were strong before we went into this, and we believe that we've got a great chance to come out of this very strong," he said.Kaplan said unemployment would peak "in the low to mid teens" before recovering to around 7%-to-8% by year-end.Coronavirus Response Leaves U.K. Vulnerable: Lancet (9:29 a.m. NY)A delayed response by the U.K. government to the coronavirus pandemic has left the health system "wholly unprepared" for an expected surge of critically ill patients, according to the editor of the medical journal The Lancet.In a letter posted on the journal's website, Richard Horton described chaos and panic across the National Health Service, basing his comments on messages he received from workers. The government last month should have expanded testing capacity, ensured the distribution of protective equipment and stepped up training, he said.U.K. Prime Minister, Health Secretary Have Virus (9:17 a.m. NY)British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will self-isolate in Downing Street for seven days after a test found he had the coronavirus, spokesman James Slack told reporters on Friday. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has also contracted the illness, in a double blow to the U.K. government's response to the crisis.Both men have reported mild symptoms. Meals will be left at Johnson's door while he continues to work by video-conference, Slack said. Hancock is self-isolating and working from home.These are the latest high-profile individuals to contract the virus in Britain after Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, tested positive.U.K. Sees No Change to Brexit Timetable (8:29 a.m. NY)"In terms of the timetable there's no change from our point of view," the U.K. prime minister's spokesman James Slack told reporters in a conference call. Slack was asked if there would be an extension to the Brexit transition period beyond December.NYC Mayor Says Trump Needs to Face Reality on Ventilators (8:20 a.m. NY)New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said cases of the new coronavirus are going to become "astronomical," putting unprecedented strain on the hospital system. Trump said in an interview on Fox News that he didn't think New York state needed the 30,000 ventilators that Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked for to treat Covid-19 patents with respiratory conditions."When the president says the state of New York doesn't need 30,000 ventilators, with all due respect to him, he's not looking at the facts of this astronomical growth of this crisis," de Blasio said. "If they don't have a ventilator, a lot of people are just not going to make it."Rolls-Royce Pauses U.K. Civil-Engine Output (8:07 a.m. NY)Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc will wind down jetliner-engine production in the U.K. as it spends a week implementing cleanup and safety measures to cope with the coronavirus outbreak. The company, which makes turbines for wide-body planes, will "significantly reduce" all but essential activities within its U.K. civil aerospace facilities from midnight, it said in a statement Friday.Rolls-Royce is taking a break from manufacturing after customer Airbus SE also paused production to check on measures to protect employees from Covid-19. Boeing Co. has gone a step further, winding down planemaking in the Seattle area for two weeks after a worker died of virus-related complications.China Ramps Up Stimulus Measures (8 a.m. NY)China will "appropriately" raise its fiscal deficit as a share of gross domestic product, issue special sovereign debt and allow local governments to sell more infrastructure bonds as part of a stimulus package to stabilize the economy, according to a politburo meeting on Wednesday, central China television reported late on Friday.Italy Virus Curve Seen Flattening Slightly (7:49 a.m. NY)The curve of new coronavirus cases in Italy appears to have started flattening slightly since March 20, Silvio Brusaferro, head of the country's National Health Institute, said at a press conference on Friday. The mortality rate in the country is proportional to patients' age, Brusaferro said.The National Health Institute said the country wasn't at the peak of the contagion yet, but the head of the Superior Health Council Franco Locatelli said there were clear signs that the containment measures "are efficient, so people must respect them."Italy reported its biggest rise in coronavirus infections in the last five days on Thursday, as the disease spread further in the northern Lombardy region, even after weeks of rigid lockdown rules.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Microsoft divests from Israeli facial-recognition startup Posted: 27 Mar 2020 02:42 PM PDT |
| Mississippi Governor Creating ‘Mass Confusion and Panic’ Amid Pandemic Posted: 27 Mar 2020 02:34 PM PDT  As the threat of the coronavirus spreads across the country, governors have been moving forward with aggressive actions designed to leave little room for confusion or error when it comes to best health practices. And then there's Tate Reeves of Mississippi. The first term Republican has made clear that he appreciates the severity of the pandemic, but in the past week he's left local officials in his state grasping for answers over what, exactly, his response to it is. The confusion stems from an executive order that Reeves put in place earlier this week that led some local leaders to believe that he was hampering their abilities to direct more aggressive public health measures to contain the coronavirus. Reeves later said the order was meant to be a "floor statewide" for local authorities to follow. In its wake, some mayors have made their frustrations clear. "The governor's actions are creating mass confusion and panic across the state," Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton, a Democrat, said in an interview with The Daily Beast. Reeves' stewardship of his state through the coronavirus crisis provides an illustration of what happens when executive leadership doesn't want to be too heavy a government hand. To a certain degree, his actions have mirrored President Donald Trump. But unlike the president, who has no direct control over the decisions states and municipalities make, the results of Reeve's approach are out there for everyone to see. And what is being witnessed is a state of confusion, even as Mississippi's health department reports 579 COVID-19 cases and eight deaths. During a press conference Tuesday, Reeves emphasized the state was not at the end of the pandemic and "may still be at the beginning stages of this fight." He then detailed an executive order that instructed residents to avoid gatherings deemed non-essential of 10 or more people. Employers were instructed to "let every possible employee" work from home.But when the executive order was published, key language sparked dismay from local leaders who worried the governor's move would supersede the actions they had already taken in hopes of minimizing the virus in their own communities. For Moss Point Mayor Mario King, who considers himself an independent, the back and forth has been embarrassing. On Monday, he was unhappy with the governor's lack of leadership only to feel by Friday that no action from the governor would have been better than what ended up happening. These Republicans Think Trump's Easter Deadline Doesn't 'Make Sense'King now says he's just embarrassed when it comes to the governor of his state, and believes the governor's action directly interfered with his own local stay at home order. There's no logic behind the governor's thought process, he said. "My thing is Tate, c'mon, you are the governor of Mississippi," King said. "Just admit that you made a mistake and let us do our jobs because you're interfering with that right now." Back in Tupelo, Shelton initially said it appeared the governor's more broad approach superseded local decisions in "no uncertain terms." "I don't know if it's intentionally vague or accidentally vague or what, but it's not serving the best interest of the citizens in the state of Mississippi," Shelton said. By Friday afternoon, the confusion pushed the mayor to essentially have a new mindset over the more aggressive measures he believes his community needs during the pandemic. "Act without regard to the governor's executive orders and just do what we think is best for Tupelo," Shelton said. In Oxford, Mayor Robyn Tannehill said their first interpretation—which left her "very frustrated"—was that the governor's order superseded what they had done locally and would allow "a lot of businesses to open back up."But after talking with Reeves, the Democrat came away with the understanding that the stricter resolutions in her community could stay in place "just as they were." "Initially it caused a great deal of confusion," she said. "And it's continuing to cause confusion in our community with businesses that had closed that now are saying, 'wait, now I can be open.'" The governor's office has tried to play clean up over the order's language with a spokesperson saying Thursday that they were trying to create "statewide parameters that local leaders on the front lines can build on." "The Governor will be issuing a supplement (Thursday) to clarify that no local precautionary measures are overruled by this executive order," a spokesperson for the governor said in an email. Reeves made a similar pledge during a press conference that same day, though he chided some critics in the process. "If you'll recall, some of the same folks that are upset today were upset a week ago because we had not issued statewide guidance on some things," Reeves said Thursday. Reeves earlier declared a state of emergency and ordered public schools closed until April 17. He has also said the state wouldn't make "rash decisions simply because some other states decide to do things." He has emphasized social distancing and urged residents of his state to practice "very sanitary means," and ensure "that you are being smart." On Twitter he's urged residents to "stay home if you can." During a livestream Monday, where he answered submitted questions, Reeves stood in line with the approach Trump has taken during his presidential press briefings. The governor said he wouldn't make decisions with the "potential of really causing more harm than they have of actually producing good." "If you feel that a statewide lockdown should be occurring, then you should put yourself on individual lockdown," Reeves said at the time. "If that's what you believe is best for you and your family, then that's fine. That is not the guidance that we are getting from our experts." At one point, an online questioner challenged Reeves that China did a lockdown and "it was good for them." "Why can't Mississippi?" the question read. "Mississippi's never going to be China," Reeves said. "Mississippi's never going to be North Korea." Reeves' resistance to dramatic public health measures stands in contrast to those governors who are on the frontlines of the coronavirus fight. The Republican governor of Ohio issued a stay at home order on Sunday and according to The New York Times a slew of states both led by Democrats and Republicans have made similar moves. In neighboring Louisiana, a stay at home order also came out Sunday. Health experts remain anxious about the differences between different states approaches as the pandemic plays out, fearful that a virus won't respect state lines. "It certainly would help if it's realized that infections don't stop at the state border,"said Dr. Arnold S. Monto, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan. "If there are contrary policies in different states, it certainly is not helpful." Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| NOT REAL NEWS: Debunking yet more false coronavirus content Posted: 27 Mar 2020 02:03 PM PDT  None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. CLAIM: Nancy Pelosi snuck $25 million worth of pay raises for Congress into the federal relief bill intended to help Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic. THE FACTS: A proposal in the economic rescue package sets aside $25 million for the House of Representatives but "none of those funds will go to member salaries," Evan Hollander, the communications director for the House Appropriations Committee, told The Associated Press.
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| Haiti, Venezuela among countries in $2 billion U.N. humanitarian response plan Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:56 PM PDT  Haiti and Venezuela are among 51 countries the United Nations is seeking to help through a $2 billion global humanitarian plan launched this week to respond to the coronavirus.
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| Eiffel Tower says "Merci" to health workers fighting virus Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:43 PM PDT  Health workers racing to save lives as France contends with one of the world's worst coronavirus outbreaks have received a huge show of gratitude with the help of the Eiffel Tower. The display of solidarity that started at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) coincided with the moment when citizens in lockdown across France have been cheering and applauding from their windows and balconies in support of doctors and nurses. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the light show will take place every evening on the 324-meter-tall tower.
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| States impose new restrictions on travelers from New York Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:23 PM PDT  States are pulling back the welcome mat for travelers from the New York area, which is the epicenter of the country's coronavirus outbreak, but some say at least one state's measures are unconstitutional. Governors in Texas, Florida, Maryland and South Carolina this week ordered people arriving from the New York area —including New Jersey and Connecticut — and other virus hot spots to self-quarantine for at least 14 days upon arrival. Connecticut officials have also pleaded with New Yorkers and others from out of state to avoid visiting unless absolutely necessary.
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| Syria, UAE leaders discuss coronavirus, a thaw in relations Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:23 PM PDT |
| These 13 government officials and world leaders have reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:19 PM PDT  The novel coronavirus has made its way up the ranks of several world governments, with officials in the US, Australia, Iran, and UK testing positive.
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| Coronavirus: 150 Tunisians self-isolate in factory to make masks Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:02 PM PDT  They are churning out 50,000 a day, plus other gear to keep doctors protected from coronavirus.
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| Fears grow over coronavirus outbreak devastating refugees, civilians trapped by war Posted: 27 Mar 2020 12:55 PM PDT  The novel coronavirus has swept through developed countries like China, Italy, South Korea, Spain and the United States, killing thousands and disrupting their economies, but the world has yet to see mass outbreaks among the most vulnerable populations. Humanitarian experts and the United Nations are warning that day will come soon, posing a deadly threat to millions of people and demanding an urgent response from the international community -- but one that so far hasn't come together. "This pandemic can only be won when countries and means and resources are put and pooled together to contain and to fight the spread of the of the virus," Robert Mardini, director-general designate of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told ABC News.
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| Federal prisons struggle to combat growing COVID-19 fears Posted: 27 Mar 2020 12:33 PM PDT  When a federal correction officer geared up for duty recently at a Florida prison complex, he added an N95 mask amid coronavirus fears. At other federal prisons, though, he would have been told to wear one. Together, these accounts detail a scattershot policy on COVID-19 safety at the federal Bureau of Prisons amid the growing pandemic.
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| Israel says Gaza militants fired rocket at Israeli town Posted: 27 Mar 2020 12:20 PM PDT |
| 'Choppy waters' await Navy as virus strikes aircraft carrier Posted: 27 Mar 2020 11:56 AM PDT  The Navy, the military service hit hardest by the coronavirus, scrambled Friday to contain its first at-sea outbreak, with at least two dozen infected aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, one of 11 active aircraft carriers whose mission is central to the Pentagon's strategy for deterring war with China and Iran. The Roosevelt and its contingent of warplanes may be sidelined for days, sitting pier side in Guam as the entire crew — more than 5,000 — is tested. "The Navy is headed into choppy waters in terms of readiness in the months ahead," says retired Adm. James Stavridis, a former ship commander who rose to become NATO's top commander in Europe.
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| Blasé Boris Laughed Off the Risks Before Catching COVID-19 Posted: 27 Mar 2020 11:37 AM PDT  LONDON—Earlier this month, while other countries were deploying powerful counter pandemic measures, Boris Johnson paid a visit to Kettering General Hospital an hour and a half north of London.Afterwards, he boasted that he had taken no precautions. "I'm shaking hands continuously," he said with a smirk during a press conference on March 3 that was called ostensibly to warn people of the upcoming threat. "I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were coronavirus patients and I was shaking hands with everybody, you will be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands."Boris Johnson Is the First World Leader to Catch CoronavirusIt soon transpired that Johnson did not—in fact—shake hands with any patients and it is thought there were actually no COVID-19 sufferers at the hospital at the time (the first coronavirus patient was to die there two weeks later).Johnson's badinage was to be taken seriously, but not literally.The message he was delivering to the people of Britain, who had just given the Brexit prime minister a huge electoral mandate, was that we didn't need to do anything about this virus beyond some judicious additional hand washing.Remarkably, that was an official government position that would hold for two further weeks, as Johnson declared that crowds at sporting events posed no particular risk and resisted calls to shut the schools.The U.S. and much of Europe were implementing widespread lockdowns; the opposition Labour party was demanding tougher restrictions; and there was even talk of a revolt within Johnson's own Conservatives.By the time schools had closed and Johnson finally ordered Britain's pubs and restaurants shuttered on March 20, there were more than 200,000 confirmed coronavirus cases around the world and over 10,000 fatalities.Why were the British so slow to react? Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London, a government adviser whose bombshell report on the likely impact of coronavirus stiffened policy in London and Washington, D.C., admitted this week that behind the scenes there had been a dispute about how much to protect the economy versus ensuring that the disease was suppressed.Britain initially pursued a policy of allowing the disease to spread, relatively untested and unchecked. Sir Patrick Vallance, the Chief Scientific Adviser, defended Johnson's inaction by explaining that the measures adopted by countries like South Korea, where widespread testing allowed every case of COVID-19 to be traced and tracked, also had downsides."If you suppress something very, very hard, when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time," he said on March 13. "Our aim is to try to reduce the peak, broaden the peak, not suppress it completely; also, because the vast majority of people get a mild illness, to build up some kind of herd immunity."Matt Hancock, Britain's Health Minister, would later deny that "herd immunity," achieved when more than 60 percent of the country has already had it, had ever been part of the strategy.An extraordinary report in this week's Sunday Times explained what it said was the original strategy inside No. 10. Johnson's top adviser, Dominic Cummings, was reported to have outlined the approach at a private gathering at the end of February, which was characterized by people at the event as "herd immunity, protect the economy, and if that means some pensioners die, too bad."On Friday morning, the prime minister announced he was suffering from a "mild" case of COVID-19. Hancock announced a few minutes later that he had also contracted the virus. Prof. Ferguson went down with it earlier in the week.Soon after Johnson's announcement, Cummings was seen racing out of No. 10 and running out of the gate at the back of Downing Street.Yet the British strategy had won influential admirers in the U.S.Fox News' Steve Hilton, a Brit who held a similar position to Cummings under Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, has been prominent among the right-wing pundits pushing President Donald Trump to use the same strategy in the U.S."Our ruling class and their TV mouthpieces whipping up fear over this virus—they could afford an indefinite shutdown. Working Americans can't. They'll be crushed by it," he said on his Fox News show this week. "You know, that famous phrase? 'The cure is worse than the disease.' That is exactly the territory we are hurtling towards. You think it is just the coronavirus that kills people? This total economic shutdown will kill people."Trump appears to have been listening.The president is apparently toying with the idea of re-opening American businesses by Easter even as the U.S. overtakes China as the nation with the most cases of coronavirus and a death toll that has raced past 1,300.Thanks to terrifying analysis of the scale of the carnage if the virus was allowed to spread unchecked—by Prof. Ferguson and others—Britain has now adopted a strategy that is more in line with other European countries, implementing a lockdown and ordering the closure of thousands of non-essential shops and businesses.Johnson has struggled to get the words out. In press conference after press conference he has moved only gradually towards the shutdown, and seemed reluctant at every turn to command the British people to adopt social distancing and push the economy into the deep freeze. The measures run totally counter to his socially liberal, small-government instincts, and it's no surprise that the country didn't take him seriously at first.It was only after last weekend when Brits flocked to parks and beaches to enjoy the spring sunshine, and the Conservative Cabinet threatened "a fullscale mutiny" that Johnson finally ordered people to stay in their homes unless it was essential to go outside.Even when he's trying his hand at crisis-management, Johnson's clownish instincts return to the surface. On a call begging the private sector to step in and help, the prime minister reportedly joked that the project to build more life-saving ventilators should be known as "Operation Last Gasp."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Water shutoffs in sharp focus amid coronavirus outbreak Posted: 27 Mar 2020 11:35 AM PDT  The advice is simple and universal: Washing your hands with soap and water is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The Rev. Roslyn Bouier remembers when children began to show up at the Brightmoor Connection Food Pantry on Detroit's northwest side, clutching empty pitchers. Through the end of 2019, the city has recorded about 127,500 total service cutoffs, according to the water department, though that figure includes households where the water was turned off repeatedly.
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| For seniors, isolation changes life in varied, nuanced ways Posted: 27 Mar 2020 11:33 AM PDT  One remembers the polio epidemic and the hardships of World War II. One is stoic about it all — because, he says, he's already "here past the welcome." A third, old enough to remember the aftermath of the 1918 flu epidemic, turns to her faith in challenging times. For older Americans, some of the people most likely to be affected badly by the coronavirus pandemic, these unusual days and the social distancing that they bring are rippling out in varied and nuanced ways.
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| Coronavirus: ceasefires and resolutions in project at UN Posted: 27 Mar 2020 11:07 AM PDT  The United Nations on Thursday hailed armed groups heeding its call for a ceasefire during the coronavirus crisis, as Security Council and General Assembly members prepared draft resolutions in support of the measure. Armed groups in Cameroon, the Philippines, Yemen and Syria have moved in recent days to reduce violence as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday issued an appeal for ceasefire.
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| For nursing homes, symptoms aren't enough to tell who's sick Posted: 27 Mar 2020 11:01 AM PDT  An investigation at a Seattle-area nursing home concluded that symptoms aren't enough to identify who is infected once the coronavirus enters a long-term care facility. A report released Friday focused on a nursing home in King County, Washington, which health officials thought might become vulnerable after an outbreak at a nearby facility, the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland. It concluded that as soon as there's a confirmed case, all health care workers should don masks and other protective garments, and residents should be isolated as much as possible.
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| From Dhaka to Gaza: How do you socially distance in a crowd? Posted: 27 Mar 2020 10:48 AM PDT  The Bangladeshi government this week ordered a nationwide shutdown to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in a country considered at high risk because hundreds of thousands of overseas workers have returned home from Italy and other virus hot spots. All businesses were ordered closed except food markets, pharmacies and other essential services, and people were told to stay indoors and keep a safe distance from each other. From Mumbai to Rio de Janeiro to Johannesburg the same story is playing out in some of the world's most unequal regions, where tens of millions live in crowded slums without adequate water, sanitation and access to health care.
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| Fashion Brands Are Letting WHO Take Over Their Instagrams Posted: 27 Mar 2020 10:40 AM PDT  In addition to large-scale contributions to COVID-19 relief organizations, Gucci and H&M are now donating their social media accounts to world health organizations in need of bigger, more influential platforms with larger reach.Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) will take over Gucci's Instagram — which boasts 40 million followers — as well as the brand's other social media channels. During the takeover, WHO will share official public service information, including methods for protecting the health, safety, and well-being of the global community, Dazed reports. "This pandemic calls us to an unexpected task, but it is a call to which we respond decisively, advocating the selfless work carried out by health workers, doctors, and nurses on the front lines every day in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic," Creative Director Alessandro Michele wrote in a letter co-signed by Gucci's President and CEO Marco Bizzarri. Similarly, H&M freed up its accounts for any organization looking to utilize its global social media reach of 120 million people. "The current situation is affecting each and every one of us, and like many other organizations, we are doing our best to help," says Sara Spännar, Head of Marketing and Communication at H&M. "Opening up our social media channels and letting aid organizations utilize our reach is one way we can contribute." The brand has 35.1 million followers on Instagram, 8.3 million followers on Twitter account, and more on each country's individual platforms.> View this post on Instagram> > We Are All in This Together. Gucci stands with its global community to fight the Covid19 pandemic by making two separate donations to crowdfunding campaigns. Locally, in Italy where the company is based, a 1 million euros donation to the Italian Civil Protection Department DipartimentoProtezioneCivile in partnership with @intesasanpaolo's ForFunding platform to reinforce Italy's health services and to source new ICU beds. Globally, Gucci donated 1 million euros to the United Nations Foundation's Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of the World Health Organization @who through Facebook's US$10 million Matching Fundraiser to monitor and collect data on the spread of the virus to strengthen ICUs across the world, supply protection equipment to health personnel and fast-track the creation of vaccines and therapies. The initiatives are captured in an original illustration gifted by Rome-based artist @mp5art, a person who holds their hand on their heart a message of human solidarity. "Gucci has created a world, open and free: a Gucci global community. We ask all of you to be the changemakers in this crisis, to stand together with us in the fight against the Coronavirus. We are all in this together," say @alessandro_michele, Creative Director of Gucci, and MarcoBizzarri, President and CEO of Gucci. Calling on our GucciCommunity to join with us, give through our Donate Sticker on Stories to the United Nations Foundation's Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund in support of the World Health Organization @who, and on gucci.forfunding.it to donate to the Italian Civil Protection Department DipartimentoProtezioneCivile. Discover more about the crowdfunding campaigns through link in bio. Starting from tomorrow, Gucci's social channels will feature the official messages of @who to help spread useful information and prevention for the virus. StaySafe FlattenTheCurve> > A post shared by Gucci (@gucci) on Mar 26, 2020 at 9:15am PDTEarlier this week, Kering Group, the parent company to Gucci, Balenciaga, and Saint Laurent, announced plans to purchase and donate three million surgical-grade face masks from a CDC-approved manufacturer in China. Kering's donation will go directly to the French health service. Gucci, on its own, will temporarily halt production on fashion to instead produce one million face masks and 55,000 medical gowns for hospitals around its home country of Italy. The Milan-based label also announced a donation of 2 million euros to help fight the effects of COVID-19. A week prior, Stockholm-based fashion brand H&M pledged $500,000 to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, a reserve established to aid in the World Health Organization's efforts to "track and understand the spread of the virus, ensure patients get the care they need, frontline workers get essential supplies and information, and accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments," according to H&M's website. The brand will also begin producing PPE products to be distributed to healthcare workers and hospitals worldwide. Keep an eye out for instructions on both of the brands' social media platforms to see how you too can aid in coronavirus relief efforts. COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic. Go to the CDC website for the latest information on symptoms, prevention, and other resources.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?For Small Fashion Brands, Help Is On The WayAll The Fashion Brands Helping To Combat COVID-19Designers Are Helping To Make Safety Supplies
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| IMF Sees Developing Nations Needing $2.5 Trillion for Virus Posted: 27 Mar 2020 10:01 AM PDT |
| The U.S. coronavirus outbreak is going to be worse than Iran's Posted: 27 Mar 2020 09:54 AM PDT  The way the United States has treated Iran over the past three years is an abominable war crime. After Iran signed the nuclear agreement with the Obama administration, and held up its end of the bargain, the Trump administration unilaterally abrogated the deal for no reason, and reimposed devastating economic sanctions. That is a clear violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, of which both Iran and the U.S. are signatories, that prohibits collective punishment of civilians.The resulting damage has seriously hindered Iran's ability to respond to the novel coronavirus pandemic — and despite their government's desperate pleas to relax the sanctions that prevent it from obtaining vital medical supplies, the Trump administration refused. This is vicious, genocidal cruelty.But ironically, it now looks like the coronavirus outbreak is going to be much worse in the United States than Iran. The U.S. outbreak is growing faster than any other — we now have more cases than any other country, including China and Italy, and more than twice the number of confirmed cases as Iran (85,762 versus 32,332 as of March 27). While America has fewer deaths so far, we have matched Iran's figure at an equivalent point in the outbreak, and numbers are rising fast. The number of deaths in New York State is going up faster than any other region, including Lombardy and Madrid.The monstrous callousness and incompetence of Donald Trump and the Republican Party are going to hurt Americans more than they do our so-called enemies.Early in the pandemic, Trump administration officials have gloated over how badly Iran is suffering. On March 17, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted the Iranian government for mishandling the outbreak. "The Iranian leadership is trying to avoid responsibility for their grossly incompetent and deadly governments," he said. COVID-19 "is a killer and the Iranian regime is an accomplice." That was rich coming from a U.S. regime that refused to stop strangling the Iranian economy out of pure spiteful malice and whose own response has been defined by dissembling and delay.Iran's government did indeed seriously bungle its initial response to the outbreak. But the drastic measures they've taken since have apparently slowed the spread somewhat. New cases and deaths had been growing at double-digit percentages daily, but between March 15 and 20 slowed to mid-single digits (though new cases did jump over the last few days). The outbreak is not at all under control, but the rate of worsening has tapered off relative to the U.S. Given how long it takes for a case of COVID-19 to progress, in another few weeks or months it might start to abate.At any rate, at least Iran is trying. Over the same period, the U.S. epidemic has grown much, much faster. Because President Trump initially denied the virus was going to strike the U.S., and lied constantly about what was happening instead of setting up strict control measures, it got loose and started spreading in the wild. Even after it was clear an epidemic could not be avoided, he refused to expand testing capability or call for lockdowns — indeed, he gave every indication of not wanting to test because it would make his numbers look bad.Republican senators like Richard Burr of North Carolina and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, meanwhile, seized on a classified briefing in February on the incipient pandemic not to inform their propaganda-addled constituents about the gravity of the situation, but to sell off some stocks before the market crashed.It has fallen to states, cities, and private businesses to take social-distancing steps to slow the pandemic. But because Trump is not coordinating the response, it has been extremely uneven — on the contrary, he and conservative media have started arguing that the response is worse than the disease, and suggesting it should be lifted before the virus has been controlled. (The Trump-lickspittle publication The Federalist even suggested people should deliberately infect themselves.) As a result, some Republican states are still refusing to implement full lockdown measures — including Florida, whose population is the second-oldest of any state. The carnage from Republican misrule will probably be counted in six digits at least.Furthermore, Trump has still not taken important steps to expand medical capacity or secure medical supplies. He still refuses (apparently after complaints from the business lobby) to use the Defense Production Act to force factories to re-tool and start churning out protective gear and ventilators. As a result, neither medical staff nor average citizens can get what they need. Doctors and nurses are re-using masks over and over, or making their own inferior versions, or suiting up in garbage bags to treat patients. New York is being forced to construct makeshift morgues to deal with the flood of infected corpses. And the pandemic is still just getting started.America is one of the most boastful, chauvinist countries on the planet. Politicians from both parties often claim the U.S. is somehow God's chosen nation, with the best people and the best political institutions ever created. But the truth is that America is a corrupt, rotten society, with a horribly dysfunctional Constitution, and our staggeringly unqualified president's crisis leadership has only ensured more people will die. Even beleaguered, ramshackle countries like Iran, with its semi-authoritarian government and sanctions-throttled economy, are facing down this crisis better than we are — while actually competent ones like Taiwan and South Korea are simply humiliating us.If we make it through this, it would be a good opportunity for America to take a serious look in the mirror. There's a lot to clean up in our own house before we start telling other nations how to behave.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Trump has never been worse — but his approval is surging. Why? Social distancing is about to get a whole lot harder Trump invokes Defense Protection Act to force GM to make ventilators
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| Boris Johnson Is Ready for His Extreme WFH Close-Up Posted: 27 Mar 2020 09:45 AM PDT |
| Boris Johnson Is Ready for His Extreme WFH Close-Up Posted: 27 Mar 2020 09:45 AM PDT |
| In Iran, false belief a poison fights virus kills hundreds Posted: 27 Mar 2020 09:35 AM PDT  Standing over the still body of an intubated 5-year-old boy wearing nothing but a plastic diaper, an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus. The boy, now blind after his parents gave him toxic methanol in the mistaken belief it protects against the virus, is just one of hundreds of victims of an epidemic inside the pandemic now gripping Iran. Iranian media report nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 1,000 sickened so far by ingesting methanol across the Islamic Republic, where drinking alcohol is banned and where those who do rely on bootleggers.
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| Johnson Accused of Prioritizing Brexit Over Saving Lives With Ventilator Plan Posted: 27 Mar 2020 09:12 AM PDT |
| Moscow Mayor’s Tough Virus Stance May Hasten Russia Lockdown Posted: 27 Mar 2020 09:08 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- As Russia steps up its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has emerged as the leading voice for ever harsher measures that may become the model for locking down the country.Sobyanin has ordered restaurants, bars, parks and most stores in Europe's largest capital city to close temporarily from Saturday. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin embraced his approach on Friday, saying measures adopted by Moscow "should extend to all regions" of Russia as the number of declared coronavirus cases passed 1,000."We need tough restrictions," to ensure Russians stay at home during a planned shutdown of most workplaces next week, Mishustin said at a televised meeting with Sobyanin and other top officials charged with containing the outbreak. "We managed to win time thanks to preventative measures."President Vladimir Putin gave Russians the week of paid leave in his first televised speech on the Covid-19 threat on Wednesday, while also promising benefits to help companies and individuals through the crisis.On Friday, however, the Kremlin walked back the decision amid reports that some Russians planned to travel to the country's vacation spots or visit relatives, taking advantage of reduced domestic air fares offered by the state airline Aeroflot. Mishustin ordered all Russia's parks and resorts to shut down."It's not days off or holidays in the classical understanding of that word," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a hastily arranged conference call. "Those who have been working remotely will continue to work next week."Center StageThe president has allowed Sobyanin, a former Kremlin chief of staff who's led the city of 12.7 million since 2010, to take center stage in advocating intensifying restrictions to head off the greatest public health challenge of Putin's 20-year rule."They're playing good cop and bad cop," said Alexei Mukhin, head of the Moscow-based Center for Political Information. "Putin is doling out goodies while Sobyanin is in charge of taking unpopular measures."Authorities in Moscow are seriously considering shutting down the city, said four people familiar with discussions on the subject. A Moscow government representative declined to comment.Putin's top public health official, Anna Popova, on Monday ruled out a lockdown adopted by governments in the worst-afflicted European countries of Italy and Spain as well as in France and the U.K., calling the measure unnecessary.While Russia's patient numbers are well below the levels in those countries, Putin made his address to the nation a day after Sobyanin warned him that the official figures understated the true scale of the outbreak and that Moscow had nearly twice as many cases in reality."Sobyanin has effectively become the main person responsible for dealing with the virus," said Tatiana Stanovaya, head of R. Politik, a political consultancy. "That's why he is pushing for the toughest possible measures."Moscow has closed entertainment venues and banned gatherings of more than 50 people, though the city so far remains free of the home confinement imposed in other capitals including Paris, London, Rome and Madrid. The subway is open, even if traffic is down by half, and there are plenty of cars on the roads.The World Health Organization's representative in Russia, Melita Vujnovic, said Thursday that if Muscovites and others across the country exercise self-discipline and stay home, then officials may avoid imposing strict quarantine."If it becomes necessary, I am sure they will take this measure," she said.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Garment workers going unpaid as fashion labels cancel orders Posted: 27 Mar 2020 09:01 AM PDT  A survey of factory owners in Bangladesh found that major fashion retailers that are closing shops and laying off workers in Europe and the U.S. are also canceling their sometimes already completed orders, as workers often go unpaid. A report released Friday by Mark Anner, director of Pennsylvania State University's Center for Global Workers' Rights, says the coronavirus crisis has resulted in millions of factory workers, mostly women from rural areas, being sent home without the wages or severance pay they are owed.
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| Pope prays for 'fragile' humanity needing help in pandemic Posted: 27 Mar 2020 08:58 AM PDT  Praying in a desolately empty St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis on Friday likened the coronavirus pandemic to a storm laying bare illusions that people can be self-sufficient and instead leaves "all of us fragile and disoriented" and needing each other's help and comfort. Francis stood under a canopy erected on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica while leading a special prayer service as rain soaked the usually crowded cobblestone square. Wearing a simple white cassock, Francis climbed the sloping steps of the square by himself until he neared a canopied platform that had been erected to shelter him from the elements, taking the arm of an aide for the last steps.
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| EU tempers fray as virus hits lives, livelihoods, economies Posted: 27 Mar 2020 08:52 AM PDT  As the coronavirus claims lives, ruins livelihoods and wreaks economic havoc, tensions are rising between European Union countries over how best to respond as the pandemic overwhelms some member nations, once more raising troubling questions about the EU's ability to stand united in times of crisis. Almost 16,000 people infected with the virus have died in Europe. Countries hit especially hard, like Italy and Spain, are imploring their partners to do more, particularly on the economic front, and to do it now.
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| VIRUS DIARY: Walking, alone, on streets built for crowds Posted: 27 Mar 2020 08:07 AM PDT  How long has it been — two weeks, three weeks — since life began to change, day by day, as the coronavirus pandemic arrived in New York? Social distancing, most stores closed, working from home (or not working at all), friends sick or quarantined, friends waiting for tests, every single conversation about THE VIRUS. Days melt one into the next as New Yorkers — miraculously — adapt to what once seemed unthinkable and the new norm just becomes normal.
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| Daily coronavirus briefing: US tops world in COVID-19 cases, British PM tests positive Posted: 27 Mar 2020 08:07 AM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a halt in the early part of 2020. After emerging in China's Hubei province in late 2019, the number of cases skyrocketed and infected more than half of a million worldwide over a four-month span with the epicenter shifting from Asia to Europe and, as of late March, the United States.The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the outbreak a pandemic on March 11. The virus, called SARS-CoV-2, causes a disease known as COVID-19, and as the number of cases escalated, government officials took drastic measures to slow the spread, ordering various forms of travel restrictions including total lockdowns in some places. Home health aide Josephine Cole checks her phone after disembarking from a bus, Thursday, March 26, 2020, in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) As residents stayed shuttered indoors, major metropolitan areas from Los Angeles to New York City to Paris and Rome were transformed into eerie ghost towns. Infectious disease experts have stressed there is much to be learned about the virus, including whether there will be a seasonal correlation to a rise or decline in confirmed infections or how weather and UV radiation can impact the spread.Here are the latest updates, listed in eastern time, and the most important things you need to know about coronavirus.Another study addressing the role warmer weather might play in slowing the spread of COVID-19 surfaced recently, and AccuWeather reporter Adriana Navarro talked with the two MIT scientists who conducted the research. They made an interesting discovery about several places that all had mean temperatures between 37.4 and 50 degrees in February and March. Still, both the scientists and an epidemiologist expressed concern about the devastating potential the virus causing COVID-19 still holds. Read the full story here.U.S. COVID-19 cases surpassed 100,000 on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The confirmed case count now stands at 100,717, with 1,544 virus-related deaths. On Thursday, The U.S. became the country with the most confirmed cases in the world, and it is now the only country to have over 100,000 confirmed cases.New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced school closures in the state will be extended throughout the rest of the school year. School districts must develop new learning plans for students to complete the rest of the year.It's been unseasonably hot in New Orleans lately, and it's going to continue to be hot through the weekend and into the middle of next week. Orleans Parish, which includes The Big Easy, has emerged as a COVID-19 hotspot of late. As of Friday, COVID-19 cases there neared 1,200 and almost 60 fatalities had been blamed on the disease. Some research has shown warm weather and higher humidity can slow the spread of COVID-19, but the spread has been accelerating there lately, despite the heat. The outbreak has been escalating so rapidly that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered anyone traveling from Louisiana into Florida to self-isolate for 14 days, or risk 60 days in jail, The Associated Press reported. Here's a look at the forecast for New Orleans through Wednesday. Walt Disney World and Disneyland will remain closed "until further notice," the company announced. Disney is still paying the employees of the now-closed parks and resorts, and said the company will continue to do so through April 18.All beaches in Los Angeles County will close temporarily, County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced on Twitter. "The crowds we saw last weekend were unacceptable and we're making this decision to save lives," Hahn said. The closure is effective immediately and includes beach bathrooms, piers, promenades and beach bike paths.Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina has been in quarantine since March 19 after being in contact with a Congress member that had tested positive for COVID-19. On Friday, Cunningham tested positive for the virus as well.World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that a COVID-19 vaccine is still 12 to 18 months away, however, he did reveal that the WHO has begun a "historic" drug trial. "Today we are delighted to announce that in Norway and Spain, the first patients will shortly be enrolled in the Solidarity Trial, which will compare the safety and effectiveness of four different drugs or drug combinations against COVID-19," Tedros said at a press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland. The trial will cut the time needed to generate enough evidence to determine which drugs are successful in fighting the virus, he said. The NBA season has been suspended since early March after multiple players on the Utah Jazz, including all-star center Rudy Gobert, tested positive for COVID-19. On Friday, Shams Charania, NBA insider for The Athletic, reported that Gobert and teammate Donovan Mitchell no longer have the illnes. The news comes one day after Detroit Pistons power forward Christian Wood was cleared from having the virus, following a previous positive test result. The Jazz and Pistons played a game in Detroit on March 7. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) talks with guard Donovan Mitchell, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons Saturday, March 7, 2020, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson) COVID-19 cases have been on the rise in Cook County, which includes Chicago, in recent days. On Friday afternoon, the number of cases in Cook County eclipsed 1,900. Complicating matters further, the Chicago area is under a threat of major severe weather on Saturday. After the storms clear out, AccuWeather's forecast shows mostly sunny weather on tap with highs in the mid- to upper-40s, a little below normal for this time of year. Unfortunately, getting out to enjoy any sunny weather will be tricky as Chicago's mayor has put strict orders into effect banning extensive outdoor exercise. "You cannot go on long bike rides. Playgrounds are shut down. You must abide by the order," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said this week, according to CBS2. Here's a glance at upcoming weather in the Windy City. (Image/AccuWeather) A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that has at least 23 confirmed cases of coronavirus on board is docking in Guam. The carrier was operating in the Philippine Sea. Once docked, every person on the carrier is expected to be tested. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said the resources in Guam will allow the Navy to test and isolate better because the resources on board are currently limited.A pharmaceutical company says the FDA has given it the green light to make a rapid coronavirus test available to the public. The test takes only 15 minutes to return results. The blood test, known as Standard Q COVID-19 IgM/IgG Rapid Test, can identify COVID-19 antibodies from blood drawn with a pinprick and requires no instrumentation and can be done on-site. The maker of the tests, Henry Schein, Inc. says it expects to have 'at least several hundred thousand tests by March 30.'Amid the coronavirus pandemic, companies and factories are starting to see production orders similar to World War II, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Distilleries have turned to making hand sanitizer, apparel companies are making masks, and General Motors and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are working to build ventilators. Last week, President Trump signed an executive order that allowed the Health and Human Services Secretary to use the The Defense Production Act. This would give the government the power to buy and distribute critically needed supplies and materials, as well as have the ability to order companies to manufacture certain goods for emergencies. The law was put into use during World War II to manufacture materials for war.New York City has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. The city has reported more than 23,000 cases and at least 365 fatalities \-- and those numbers are climbing fast. We've looked at what researchers and other experts have said about how weather could affect the spread of COVID-19. But weather is also a practical matter for many, especially in New York City where people are waiting on long lines to be admitted into hospitals and lining up at drive-thru testing sites. Over the next five days, the AccuWeather forecast is calling for a mix of rain sun in the Big Apple with temperatures at or above average. Here's a closer look at the 5-day forecast: (Image/AccuWeather) "Louisiana has experienced the fastest rate of increase for confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world," Gov. John Bel Edwards said on Friday morning. The number of cases has been rising sharply across the state, with hospitals in dire need of crucial medial equipment. Edwards has requested 5,000 ventilators from the federal stockpile, but as of Thursday evening, had not received any, according to NOLA.com. At the current rate of COVID-19 cases, Edwards projects that Louisiana will run out of ventilators by the first week of April. "We're trying to procure them, desperately." The Ernest M. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans is in the process of being outfitted to house as many as 3,000 beds for when hospitals in the city reach capacity. More than 40 percent of the COVID-19 cases in Louisiana have been in Orleans Parish, making it one of the hot spots across the U.S.United Kingdom Health Secretary Matt Hancock has tested positive for coronavirus just moments after Prime Minister Boris Johnson also tested positive. Hancock said in a video that he is only posing mild symptoms and will be self isolating and working from home until at least next Thursday.United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus, he announced on Twitter. The prime minister said he developed mild symptoms over the past 24 hours and is now self-isolating.Working from home, Johnson said he will continue leading the U.K.'s fight against the pandemic. Johnson, 55, said his persistent symptoms were "a temperature and persistent cough" and took the test on the advice of the U.K.'s chief medical officer.Here are the latest updated worldwide numbers compiled by researchers from Johns Hopkins University: A good hand-washing technique is one of the best ways to protect yourself and others from getting sick. With the rapid spread of the coronavirus, knowing how to properly wash your hands is especially important. In a short video tutorial shared on Twitter that went viral recently, this process was broken down by using black ink instead of soap, to show how to fully wash your hands without missing any spots. Some of the tips given in this video include: * Wet your hands with water. * Put soap in the palm of your hands and rub it on your hands. * Make sure you get your wrists, in-between your fingers, the back of your hands and your fingernails.> Correct technique to wash your hands for proper disinfection. CoronavirusOutbreakindia CoronaVirusUpdate COVID CoronaVirusUpdate pic.twitter.com/1WeDwlCaF6> > -- Harjinder Singh Kukreja (@SinghLions) March 19, 2020The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Thursday they are relaxing restrictions on disinfectant and pesticide manufacturers in an effort to "increase the availability of products for Americans to use against the novel coronavirus." The EPA is currently allowing companies that fall under those categories to obtain some inactive ingredients, such as sodium chloride or glucose, without prior approval from the agency.Actor Mark Blum died on Thursday at the age of 69 after experiencing complications related to COVID-19. Blum was most known for "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Crocodile Dundee," "Law & Order," "Us" and "Succession," NBC reported.Orleans Parish continues to be the epicenter for COVID-19 in Louisiana. The parish, which is home to New Orleans, has accounted for 43 percent of cases and 55 percent of fatalities across the state, according to the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH). "676 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized. Of those, 239 require ventilation. If Louisiana's growth continues this way and the state is unable to flatten the curve, the New Orleans area could run out of vents by the first week of April," the LDH said.President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that federal officials are working on developing new guidelines that will determine and rate a county's risk of COVID-19 spread. The Associated Press reported the goal of the new guidelines is to give local governments the power to make "decisions about maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other measures they have put in place," and allow the national government to ease the nationwide guidelines.U.S. COVID-19 cases, which have been surging as testing has escalated, topped Italy and China, making America the country with the most cases in the world with 82,404, according to Johns Hopkins University. Currently, the U.S. has confirmed 1,136 COVID-19-related deaths, making its mortality rate 1.4 percent. Medical personnel are silhouetted against the back of a tent before the start of coronavirus testing in the parking lot outside of Raymond James Stadium early Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in Tampa, Florida. The testing is being done by appointment only. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) The wild roller-coaster ride on Wall Street continued Thursday as the Dow shot up more than 1,350 points. According to Business Insider, the rally thrust stocks back into bull market territory and, over the three-day winning streak, the Dow is up 21 percent. The big gains came despite historically bad unemployment numbers the federal government released earlier in the day as traders took confidence from a $2 trillion stimulus package that's working its way through Congress.The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that people facing pre-existing medical conditions or noncommunicable diseases could risk becoming seriously ill from contracting COVID-19. The WHO recommended people with such conditions take medications and follow medical advice, avoid sick people, have at least one month of medical supplies stocked, wash hands often, quit smoking and drinking alcohol, and protect mental health. According to WHO doctors, these are 4 pre-existing conditions that are especially at-risk: * Cardiovascular disease * Chronic respiratory disease * Diabetes * CancerThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China announced on Thursday that foreigners will be temporarily banned from entering China starting March 28. This announcement is the latest attempt of controlling the spread of coronavirus in the country where it originated. Back in January, Chinese authorities introduced stricter measures, including suspending all travel in and out of cities in Hubei province. The city of Wuhan, home to more than 11 million people and the original epicenter of the global outbreak, has only reported one new confirmed infection since March 17.Over 500,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed across the globe, resulting in nearly 23,000 deaths, according to numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins University. There have also been nearly 121,000 recoveries as of Thursday afternoon. China is still ranked as the country with the most cases of COVID-19, but Italy is on pace to overtake China before the end of the week. On Thursday alone, Italy reported 6,153 new cases and 662 new fatalities. Here are the five countries with the highest number of confirmed cases: * China (81,782) * Italy (80,539) * U.S. (75,233) * Spain (56,197) * Germany (43,646)New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said officials are seeing a reduction in the rate of increase of the spread of the coronavirus. "That's the first sign of progress," he said. The state's death toll has reached 385, and Cuomo referred to the battle against COVID-19 as a marathon, not a sprint. The state, considered to be the current epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., has over 37,000 cases and is conducting up to 18,650 COVID-19 tests per day.Cuomo also thanked the tireless efforts of some of the hard-working residents on the frontline of the battle. "I know [New Yorkers] are tired. I'm tired too. But when I feel tired, I think of the healthcare professionals working seven-day weeks. I think of the first responders showing up every day. I think of the pharmacists, transit workers & so many others."Despite many businesses closing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some industries are seeing a spike in sales, including the orange juice industry. Do to the stay at home orders of some states, people are looking for ways to get more Vitamin C into their body to help strengthen their immune system and drinking orange juice is one method to do just that. The mild winter has also helped oranges continue to grow through the winter, meaning a larger quantity of oranges. However, the WHO warns that while orange juice helps build your immune system, it will not directly prevent contracting COVID-19. A supermarket in northeastern Pennsylvania had to dispose of $35,000 worth of food after a woman walked into the store and purposely coughed on produce, meat and bakery items. "While there is little doubt this woman was doing it as a very twisted prank, we will not take any chances with the health and well-being of our customers. We had no choice but to throw out all product she came in contact with," Gerrity's Supermarket posted on Facebook. These areas were thoroughly cleaned before being restocked with fresh product. The Luzerne County District Attorney's Office assured the supermarket that they will be "aggressively pursuing numerous charges" against the woman.Even the Waffle Houses are closing. The popular eatery, which takes pride on staying open 24 hours a day for 365 days a year, has long been considered a signal of how severe a natural disaster is by how many of its restaurants are closed in the aftermath of a storm. The restaurant chain announced Wednesday that 418 of its locations are now closed, while more than 1,500 are still open amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said customers can call their local Waffle House for carry-out orders.Waffle House uses a a three-color index to highlight the status of its stores: green, yellow and red. Green indicates a location is fully open, yellow is a limited menu and red is closed.On a day when millions of baseball fans planned to watch their favorite team start the new season with a win, quite the opposite is happening as Major League Baseball (MLB) stadiums across the county sit empty. March 26 was scheduled to be the league's opening day before it was announced several weeks ago that the season would be suspended due to the coronavirus. Instead, the league is presenting fans with "Opening Day at Home." "A full slate of 30 games broadcast nationally across various platforms, including digital streaming and social media, creating a full-day event on what would have been Opening Day," the league said. "There will be one game -- a victory, of course - broadcast for each MLB club. Fans will have the chance to enjoy postseason triumphs, spectacular individual feats and more, reliving fond memories while doing their part to keep their communities safe." The exterior of Dodgers Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers is seen Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Unemployment claims across the U.S. soared to a record 3.28 million according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Labor. Just one week ago claims were 282,000 but more states have shuttered non-essential businesses across a variety of industries in the ongoing fight against COVID-19. The increase of 3,001,000 marks the "highest level of seasonally adjusted initial claims in the history of the seasonally adjusted series," the Labor Department's statement read. "The previous high was 695,000 in October of 1982." As Annie Lowrey, an econimics reporter for The Atlantic pointed out on Twitter, it's as if everyone in Chicago, home to about 2.7 million, lost their jobs. The Tony Awards have been postponed due to coronavirus. The event recognizing the year's best theater and Broadway productions was scheduled to take place June 7 in New York City, but the health risk surrounding the spread of coronavirus has become too immense. In a statement from Tony Award Productions, the event said a new date will be later announced. New York has over 33,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, nearly the same amount as the rest of the U.S. combined.Over 50,000 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed throughout the world on Wednesday, marking the worst day yet for new growth during the pandemic. In the U.S., 13,355 new confirmed cases represented the worst day of growth as well, making Wednesday the fourth consecutive day with a new daily high total of cases and deaths in the country.Wednesday's 247 new deaths in the U.S. pushed the outbreak's total fatality tally to over 1,000 in the country, joining China, Italy, Spain, Iran and France for the only other countries with over 1,000. With 619 total recoveries, per data from Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has also seen fewer recorded recoveries than each of those other countries and 3,525 fewer recoveries than South Korea, which has seen nearly 60,000 fewer cases.Here are the latest updated numbers from researchers at Johns Hopkins University: * Total confirmed cases: 480,466 * Total deaths: 21,353 * Total recoveries: 115,003Click here for previous daily briefings on the coronavirus outbreak. Reporting by Lauren Fox, John Murphy, Brian Lada, Mark Puleo, Maria Antonieta Valery Gil, Kevin Byrne, Chaffin Mitchell, Adriana Navarro, Dexter Henry, Bill Wadell, Jonathan Petramala, and Monica DanielleKeep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| The UK government claims it failed to take part in an EU scheme for coronavirus ventilators because it didn't see the email asking it to take part Posted: 27 Mar 2020 07:57 AM PDT  The UK government is accused of putting "Brexit before breathing" after failing to sign up to an EU scheme for coronavirus ventilators.
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| Coronavirus: latest global developments Posted: 27 Mar 2020 07:28 AM PDT  The United States has become the country with the most coronavirus infections, as more than 83,000 people have tested positive, according to the Johns Hopkins University. It thus edges out Italy, which has reported the most deaths, and China, where the virus was first detected in December in the metropolis of Wuhan. Despite having traded barbs over the pandemic, President Xi Jinping said in a call with Donald Trump China and the United States should "unite to fight" it.
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| Pandemic could spark unrest among West's urban poor - Red Cross aid agency Posted: 27 Mar 2020 07:26 AM PDT  Social unrest could erupt among the urban poor and marginalised in the West's biggest cities as they lack sources of income amid the COVID-19 crisis, the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Friday. Francesco Rocca, an Italian who heads the world's largest disaster relief network, said that as well as social unrest the risk of suicide is increasing among vulnerable isolated people. "We have a lot of people who are living very marginalised, in the so-called black hole of society... In the most difficult neighbourhoods of the biggest cities I am afraid that in a few weeks we will have social problems," Rocca told a U.N. news briefing.
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| Coronavirus: Trump delays call with China’s President Xi for 90 minutes to phone Fox News instead Posted: 27 Mar 2020 05:38 AM PDT  Donald Trump postponed a planned phone call with Chinese president Xi Jinping on Thursday night so he could be interviewed by Fox News host Sean Hannity.The president was due to discuss the ongoing coronavirus pandemic with his Chinese counterpart at 9pm, but said he delayed the call to appear on the popular Fox News programme.
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| UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tests Positive For Coronavirus Posted: 27 Mar 2020 04:39 AM PDT  U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), reports the BBC, citing an official statement from Downing Street.The PM will still be in charge of the government's handling of the crisis and has mild symptoms. Johnson will self-isolate in Downing Street."He was tested for coronavirus on the personal advice of England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty," according to the statement.Related Link: Prince Charles Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Remains In Good HealthOn Wednesday, Britain's Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, tested positive for the coronavirus."Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus," Johnson said in a tweet. "I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-conference as we fight this virus.Together we will beat this."> Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus.> > I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-conference as we fight this virus.> > Together we will beat this. StayHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/9Te6aFP0Ri> > -- Boris Johnson StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) March 27, 2020Department of State photo via Wikimedia. See more from Benzinga * Prince Charles Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Remains In Good Health * Boris Johnson Announces UK Lockdown, Says Coronavirus Is Biggest Threat In Decades * Brexit Finally Arrives, Johnson Says It's 'A New Dawn'(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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| British Prime Minister Johnson tests positive for virus Posted: 27 Mar 2020 04:23 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the first leader of a major nation to contract COVID-19, but he insisted Friday that he remains in charge of the U.K.'s response to the outbreak. Johnson, 55, said he was tested Thursday after showing "mild symptoms": a temperature and a persistent cough. Health Secretary Matt Hancock was also confirmed to have the virus.
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| Political turmoil in Kabul dogs negotiations with Taliban Posted: 27 Mar 2020 04:07 AM PDT  After months of deliberation, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday announced his 21-member team to negotiate peace with the Taliban, only to have his political opponent reject it as not inclusive enough. Afghanistan's political turmoil has impeded each tentative step toward negotiations with the Taliban — negotiations that are supposed to come next under a peace deal that Washington signed with the insurgents last month. The deal calls for the eventual withdrawal of all 13,000 U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan in exchange for guarantees from the Taliban to fight other militant groups, including the Islamic State group.
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| Coronavirus: US and China must work together to stop Covid-19, Xi tells Trump Posted: 27 Mar 2020 03:45 AM PDT  Chinese president Xi Jinping has told Donald Trump that the US and China must work together to stop Covid-19 as America faces the prospect of becoming the next global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.Mr Xi said China would be willing to offer support to the US, which now has most confirmed Covid-19 cases in the world, and insisted his country had been "open and transparent" about its epidemic, according to a report by Chinese state media.
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| US tops world in virus cases and logs record unemployment Posted: 27 Mar 2020 02:06 AM PDT  The United States now has more COVID-19 infections than any other country, and a record number of newly unemployed people, as the coronavirus crisis deepens around the world. Hours after his nation reached the grim milestone, President Donald Trump spoke by phone to China's Xi Jinping, after weeks of bickering and finger pointing over a disease researchers say could kill at least 1.8 million people by the end of the year. "Just finished a very good conversation with President Xi of China," Trump tweeted.
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| US now has most coronavirus cases in the world after overtaking China Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:24 AM PDT  The number of US coronavirus infections climbed above 82,000 on Thursday, surpassing the national tallies of China and Italy, as New York, New Orleans and other hot spots faced a surge in hospitalisations amid looming shortages of supplies, staff and sick beds. Chinese President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Donald Trump during a phone call on Friday that he would have China's support in fighting the virus. Mr Xi's offer of assistance came amid a long-running war of words between Beijing and Washington over various issues including the coronavirus epidemic. Mr Trump and some US officials have accused China of a lack of transparency on the virus, and Mr Trump has at times called the coronavirus a "China virus" as it originated there, angering Beijing. In the call, Mr Xi reiterated to Mr Trump that China had been open and transparent about the epidemic, according to an account of the conversation published by the Chinese foreign ministry. Mr Trump said on Twitter that he discussed the coronavirus outbreak "in great detail" with Mr Xi.
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| Couples in quarantine: Stress, anxiety, fear of the unknown Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:03 AM PDT  One parent is allowing it in an effort to be the "fun parent"; the other bitterly opposes it. Described by therapists, lawyers or the couples themselves, they reveal how even the most subtle differences in temperament or coping strategy can be painfully exacerbated under the incredible stress and anxiety that the outbreak is causing. It's a time when every domestic decision can seem to have impossibly high stakes, says Catherine Lewis, therapist and faculty member at Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York, from the seemingly small — whether to go grocery shopping — to the fraught calculus of which family members should isolate together.
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