Peru was one of the first Latin America countries to go into lockdown – but the jump in new cases is undeniable, and experts say it’s due to people’s behaviour
Peru seemed to be doing everything right.
Its president, Martín Vizcarra, announced one of the earliest coronavirus lockdowns in Latin America on 16 March.
Continue reading...Country plans to allow international flights from 1 July; Spain makes face coverings compulsory; global cases hit 4.9m
Here is more on US president Donald Trump calling for an in-person G7 meeting.
Donald Trump has said he may seek to revive a face-to-face meeting of Group of Seven leaders near Washington, after earlier canceling the gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Related: Trump considers an in-person G7 meeting despite coronavirus pandemic
Continue reading...Authorities say they have evidence tying Toronto attack in which a woman was murdered and two others injured to ‘incel’ movement
Police in Canada are treating a machete attack in which a woman was murdered and two others injured as an act of terrorism, after discovering evidence suggesting that it was motivated by violent misogyny.
The move is thought to be the first time that terrorism charges have been brought in a case connected to the so-called “incel” ideology.
Continue reading...An independent tally puts coronavirus deaths at nearly 10 times the official figure as bodies are interred quickly and quietly
Shortly after midnight, five ambulances pull up at the German Nicaraguan hospital in Managua – lights flashing, but no sirens wailing.
The gates quickly close behind them, but reopen after less than half an hour, and the convoy heads out again into the dark streets.
Continue reading...WHO chief promises review of global response; Afghanistan sees biggest one-day rise in new infections; Italy records lowest deaths since March
Twenty one more people have died from Covid-19 in the Netherlands, the lowest number reported on a Tuesday since March, taking the total death toll in the country to 5,715.
According to the latest update from the Dutch national institute for public health and the environment (RIVM), a further 108 people tested positive for the virus, the lowest number of new daily infections recorded since 10 March. So far, 44,249 confirmed cases have been reported.
The number of people who have fallen ill due to the novel coronavirus in the Netherlands has been decreasing since the end of March. This is apparent from the decrease in the number of newly reported patients, hospital admissions, ICU admissions and deaths per day.
The number of people who visit their GP because of symptoms that are consistent with the coronavirus is still decreasing. This is evident from figures provided by the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel).
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus across Africa has passed 86,000, the regional office of the World Health Organization has said.
Unlike in Europe, a widespread outbreak seems yet to happen in Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people. There had been fears that its comparatively limited healthcare infrastructure would be overrun by patients with Covid-19.
Over 86,000 confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent - with more than 33,000 recoveries & 2,700 deaths. View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/V0fkK8dYTg pic.twitter.com/t8kU48MI7R
Continue reading...The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, greeted coronavirus lockdown protesters after his country's total number of Covid-19 cases surpassed 230,000. Bolsonaro, a rightwing populist leader, has been critical of physical distancing and lockdown measures implemented by Brazil's state governments. 'Unemployment, hunger and misery will be the future of those who support the tyranny of total isolation,' Bolsonaro tweeted
Daily death tolls fall in UK, Spain and Italy; South Africa reports highest daily increase; global infections pass 4.7 million. Follow the latest updates
Despite strong efforts, Taiwan did not get invited to this week’s meeting of a key World Health Organization body due to Chinese pressure, its foreign minister has said, adding they had agreed to put the issue off until later this year.
Non-WHO member Taiwan had been lobbying to take part in the World Health Assembly, which opens later on Monday.
Despite all our efforts and an unprecedented level of international support, Taiwan has not received an invitation to take part.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses deep regret and strong dissatisfaction that the World Health Organization Secretariat has yielded to pressure from the Chinese government and continues to disregard the right to health of the 23 million people of Taiwan.
Understandably, countries want to use the limited time available to concentrate on ways of containing the pandemic.
For this reason, like-minded nations and diplomatic allies have suggested that the proposal be taken up later this year when meetings will be conducted normally, to make sure there will be full and open discussion.
Hungary’s government will submit a proposal to parliament on 26 May to end its special coronavirus emergency powers, hirtv.hu quoted prime minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff as saying late on Sunday.
Gergely Gulyas said parliament would take a few days to pass the bill, which will end the much-criticised emergency powers by early June.
Continue reading...Covid-19 quarantine has not stopped police from storming favelas, with 13 killed in the latest operation
Maria Diva do Nascimento was worried as she set off for her job at one of Rio de Janeiro’s biggest hospitals wearing a face mask she hoped would keep her alive.
It had been two days since she had heard from her son Allyson, a 20-year-old drug trafficker whose job made social isolation impossible.
Continue reading... Military aerobatics display over Kamloops was intended to boost public morale during coronavirus pandemic
A Canadian aerobatics jet has crashed into a British Columbia neighbourhood during a flyover intended to boost morale during the Covid-19 pandemic, killing one crew member, seriously injuring another and setting a house on fire.
Video appeared to show the crew of the Snowbirds’ plane ejecting during the crash on Sunday.
Continue reading...Mexico and Peru struggle to contain outbreaks while deaths in Spain fall to two-month low
Confirmed Covid-19 cases in Brazil have surpassed the total in Italy and are surging in Mexico and Peru as Latin America struggles to contain its fast-growing coronavirus outbreak.
Spain announced that 87 people had died there in the 24 hours to Sunday morning, the first time the figure has been below 100 in more than two months and a sign the virus is being contained in western Europe as it continues to spread aggressively in Russia, India and parts of Africa.
Continue reading...Authorities have struggled to enforce social distancing at the trading centres. At one Lima market, 79% of vendors had coronavirus
Four out of five merchants at a major fruit market in Peru have tested positive for coronavirus, revealing shocking levels of infection – and prompting fears that Latin America’s traditional trading centres may have helped spread Covid-19 across the region.
Seventy-nine per cent of stall-holders in Lima’s wholesale fruit market tested positive for Covid-19, while spot tests at five other large fresh food markets in the city revealed at least half were carrying the virus.
Continue reading...Russia records highest daily fatalities; German football gets back under way; French child dies of Kawasaki disease. Follow the latest updates
This live blog is now closed – the new one is here where you can join Rebecca Ratcliffe for continuing coverage.
Related: Coronavirus live news: Barack Obama attacks Trump virus response
Tens of thousands of impoverished migrant workers are on the move across India, walking on highways and railway tracks or riding in trucks, buses and crowded trains in blazing heat, Associated Press reports.
Some are accompanied by pregnant wives and young children, braving threats from the coronavirus pandemic. They say they have been forced to leave cities and towns where they had toiled for years building homes and roads after they were abandoned by their employers casualties of a nationwide lockdown to stop the virus from spreading.
On Saturday, at least 23 laborers died in northern India when a truck they were traveling in smashed into a stationary truck on a highway. Last week, a train crashed into a group of tired workers who fell asleep on the tracks while walking back home in western Maharashtra state, killing 16.
The government and charities have tried to set up shelters for them, but their numbers are simply overwhelming, leaving them little choice but to head on a perilous journey home.
A partial transcript of the meeting in Brasília offers a glimpse of the paranoia and ideological obsessions of Brazil’s president
The coronavirus pandemic has halted production of Brazil’s steamy telenovela soap operas – but one small-screen blockbuster is on everyone’s lips.
A two-hour video of a heated and expletive-ridden cabinet meeting chaired by President Jair Bolsonaro last month has become the subject of an extraordinary political arm-wrestle, exposing the intrigues and eccentricities at the centre of Brazilian power.
Continue reading...More than 100 Mexicans have died from drinking adulterated alcohol over the past month in a string of mass poisonings which followed a ban on the sale of liquor during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Deaths from unsafe alcohol have been reported in at least four states. On Thursday, health officials in the central state of Puebla said the death toll there had reached 51 after a batch of moonshine was tainted with methanol – a wood alcohol which can cause blindness and kidney damage.
Continue reading...Spain hails large-scale antibody study; no Danish virus deaths for first time since March; China marks one month with no Covid-19 deaths
New York will join the nearby states of New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware in partially reopening beaches for the Memorial Day weekend, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday.
Reuters reports that Cuomo’s announcement comes one day after New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said he was opening the beaches for the traditional May 23-25 start of summer.
Related: Coronavirus US live: House to vote on $3tn stimulus package opposed by Trump and Senate
There were 242 new coronavirus fatalities in Italy on Friday, down by 20 from Thursday, bringing the total death toll to 31,610.
New infections rose by 789, down by over 200 within the last 24 hours, according to the civil protection authority.
Continue reading...The FBI has offered a $1m reward for the arrest and prosecution for those responsible for the kidnapping of US citizen Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle, eight years ago in Afghanistan.
The offer of a reward for their captors is the latest twist in the protracted saga of Coleman and Boyle, who were the subject of intense media scrutiny following their dramatic rescue in 2017 – and a subsequent trial over allegations of abuse by Boyle.
Continue reading...Scarcity of flights due to coronavirus pandemic has caused problems with getting enough bamboo to feed them
The Calgary zoo will be returning two giant pandas on loan from China because a scarcity of flights due to Covid-19 has caused problems with getting enough bamboo to feed them.
Er Shun and Da Mao arrived in Calgary in 2018 after spending five years at the Toronto zoo and were to remain in the Alberta city until 2023.
Continue reading...Japan expected to ease state of emergency in many regions; Russia has second highest number of infections; Wuhan mass testing begins; follow the latest updates
Morning/evening/whatever-it-is-where-you-are everyone. This is Simon Burnton taking on the live blog for the next few hours. If you have seen any stories that deserve our attention, or if you have any tips, comments or suggestions for our coverage then please let me know by sending me a message either to @Simon_Burnton on Twitter or via email. Thanks!
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan for today.
Today I leave you with something a little different – a Ghanaian pallbearer and his band of merry, morbid men, who have become the unofficial mascots of the pandemic in countries around the world:
Related: 'Why should you cry?' Ghana's dancing pallbearers find new fame during Covid-19
Continue reading...It is unclear if poisonings were related to coronavirus lockdowns as beer production was halted more than a month ago
At least 35 people have died in Mexico after drinking methanol, the latest in a series of mass bad-alcohol poisonings since the country banned beer sales and many towns banned the sale of liquor.
At least 20 people died of presumed methanol poisoning in the town of Chiconcuautla in the central state of Puebla. State authorities said they had closed the stores where the suspect liquor had been sold, and seized about 50 gallons (200 liters) of it.
Continue reading...Coronavirus may never be eradicated, warns WHO as Spanish study reveals 5% of the population has antibodies
We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:
Donald Trump has ratcheted up his “Obamagate” conspiracy theory to implicate Joe Biden and other former White House officials in what critics say is a desperate attempt to distract from the coronavirus pandemic.
Related: Trump deepens 'Obamagate' conspiracy theory with Biden unmasking move
Continue reading...