Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak

Coronavirus: US reaches one million confirmed cases – live updates

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Mike Pence’s office has dubiously argued the vice president does not need to wear a mask because he is regularly tested for coronavirus.

The vice president faced questions about his lack of mask usage earlier this month after a photo circulated of a mask-less Pence greeting Colorado governor Jared Polis, who was wearing a mask in the picture.

Vice President Mike Pence was criticized for ignoring mask guidelines when visiting the Mayo Clinic facilities in Minnesota today.

Footage of Pence’s visit showed the vice president not covering his face as he met with the clinic’s employees and at least one patient.

PENCE flouts Mayo Clinic policy that everyone on campus wear a mask, even as he meets with staff and a patient. pic.twitter.com/kfo64KQDhU

Mayo Clinic had informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today.

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Refuges from domestic violence running out of space, MPs hear

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Dame Vera Baird warns select committee Covid-19 lockdown is leading to ‘perfect storm’

Refuges providing sanctuary to victims of domestic violence are running out of space, with many full or effectively closed amid an “epidemic inside this pandemic”, the victims’ commissioner has told MPs.

A “perfect storm” of problems is in danger of overwhelming support services for those trying to escape violent and abusive partners, Dame Vera Baird QC warned members of the House of Commons justice select committee.

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Trevor Phillips role ‘undermines Covid-19 BAME inquiry’

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Equality campaigners warn of lack of ‘trust and confidence’ in controversial figure

The appointment of Trevor Phillips to an inquiry into why black, Asian and minority ethnic people are being disproportionately affected by Covid-19 has undermined its credibility among those it is seeking to serve, according to two leading BAME campaigners.

Phillips, who previously chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission, was selected despite being suspended from the Labour party last month for alleged Islamophobia, including a reference to UK Muslims as being “a nation within a nation”. The first four UK doctors with Covid-19 known to have died were all Muslim.

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Big retailers move to enhanced ‘click and collect’ shopping as coronavirus shutdown endures

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Myer launches ‘pop-up’ collection booths as online sales surge while luxury brand stores reopen their doors

Retail giants are set to rely more heavily on click and collect sales even as lockdown restrictions are eased, with the sector’s peak body cautioning against a rush to fully reopen bricks and mortar stores.

Paul Zahra, Australian Retailers Association (ARA) CEO, believes the shift towards delivery and kerbside pickup will leave a “legacy” in Australians’ shopping habits, and said one “fundamentally positive” impact of the pandemic has been that retailers traditionally reluctant to move online have now come on board.

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The questions No 10 needs to answer over Covid-19 response

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From lockdown to PPE, the government is under pressure to provide more clarity

No 10 has promised “maximum transparency” on its coronavirus response in the coming days. Here are just some of the areas where the government is under pressure to provide detailed answers – or risk being accused of a whitewash.

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Ford set to restart main European car factories on Monday 4 May

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Production will begin slowly with UK plants remaining shut until later in the spring

Ford said it would restart its main European car factories on Monday 4 May, but its UK plants in Dagenham and Bridgend will stay closed until later in the spring.

The US car giant, which closed its European and North American factories at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, said production would begin slowly with strict standards on social distancing and safety precautions.

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New York ER doctor who treated coronavirus patients dies by suicide

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Dr Lorna Breen worked at New York-Presbyterian Allen hospital and was ‘truly in the trenches’, her father said

A top emergency room doctor in New York who was working on the frontline trying to save coronavirus victims at the height of the pandemic and also suffered the disease herself has died.

Related: A whip-smart neurologist, a social worker who sang Broadway: US health workers who died from Covid-19

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Trudeau urges caution as Quebec plans to ease lockdown: ‘We’re not out of the woods yet’

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Hardest-hit region in Canada with over 1,600 deaths plans to reopen elementary schools and childcare facilities on 11 May

Justin Trudeau has urged caution as Canada’s most populous provinces announce plans to ease their lockdown measures, highlighting the challenge of balancing public health recommendations with a growing pressure to loosen coronavirus restrictions.

“The measures we’ve taken so far are working. In fact, in many parts of the country the curve has flattened,” Trudeau said on Tuesday. “But we’re not out of the woods yet. We’re in the middle of the most serious public health emergency Canada has ever seen and if we lift measures too quickly, we might lose the progress we’ve made.”

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Who is behind the US protests against coronavirus lockdown? – video explainer

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Some experts have warned that the recent anti-quarantine rallies and counter-protests taking place nationwide could cause a surge in coronavirus cases in America. Guardian US writer Adam Gabbatt explains where these protests originated and who is behind them

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France announces ‘progressive and controlled’ lockdown exit plan

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Spain also plans ‘transition to normality’ despite rise in German Covid-19 infection rate after relaxation of restrictions

France and Spain have announced detailed roadmaps for gradual, phased exits from their strict coronavirus lockdowns, with restrictions to be loosened progressively and varying from region to region.

The French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, told parliament the decision to confine the population to their homes six weeks ago had saved 62,000 lives but it was now time to start lifting the lockdown to avoid economic collapse.

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Three women killed in Spain as coronavirus lockdown sees rise in domestic violence

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A steep drop in police reports indicates isolation may be making it harder to get help

It was 2.30am when Daniel Jiménez was woken by his neighbour’s screams. When he went outside his home in the Los Pajarillos neighbourhood of Valladolid in north-east Spain, he saw a woman being dangled from a third-storey window by her husband. Another neighbour rushed out with mattresses to help break her fall but he was too late. She fell to her death.

Although the circumstances of the killing of the 56-year-old woman are still under investigation, the interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, declared it a crime of gender violence, making the woman the third victim of femicide since Spain’s strict lockdown came into force on 14 March.

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African Americans bear the brunt of Covid-19’s economic impact

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Pandemic spotlights racial disparities, with black workers expected to feature disproportionately in the 26m recent unemployment claims

Just two months ago in the Cabinet Room of the White House, sitting at a table surrounded by a handful of his black supporters, Donald Trump once again praised his job creation record. “Black people right now are having the best, statistically, the best numbers that you’ve ever had, and it’s really an honor,” he said. “Nobody has done more for black people than I have. Nobody has done more.”

That was 27 February and Trump was also still claiming he had done an “incredible job” with the looming coronavirus pandemic. Now the virus has led 26 million Americans to file for unemployment. While the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will not release unemployment figures broken down by race until the beginning of next month, economists are certain that black Americans are suffering the brunt of Covid-19’s economic impact and will probably suffer the most dramatic consequences of the looming recession.

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Seattle artists create murals on shuttered stores – in pictures

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As businesses in Seattle closed their doors, many storefronts nailed plywood over their windows – but it created the feeling of a ghost town. So artists came together to create something beautiful and uplifting, turning these wooden coverings into murals. Sydney Pertl, who created one of the murals in Pioneer Square, says the response has been amazing

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British ambassador plays musical tribute to Covid-19 health workers in UK and Portugal – video

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The British ambassador to Portugal, who has been posting videos of himself playing the piano in honour of health workers in the UK and Portugal, has become something of an internet sensation. Chris Sainty began sharing his performances on Twitter during the Covid-19 lockdown. In a video where is he is playing the tune of You’ll Never Walk Alone, he wrote: 'It is for the bravest of the brave: the nurses, carers and doctors of the NHS and the SNS’

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‘Calamitous’: domestic violence set to soar by 20% during global lockdown

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Data from the UN population fund, outlining increases in abuse, FGM and child marriage, predicts a grim decade for many women

At least 15m more cases of domestic violence are predicted around the world this year as a result of pandemic restrictions, according to new data that paints a bleak picture of life for women over the next decade.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has also calculated that tens of millions of women will not be able to access modern contraceptives this year, and millions more girls will undergo female genital mutilation or be married off by 2030.

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Coronavirus has revealed the EU’s fatal flaw: the lack of solidarity | Shahin Vallée

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There has been little political will to pool taxes, borrowing and spending to support states worst hit. But it is the only way out

The European summit last week was hailed as a moment of truth. In a recent interview, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, laid out how European leaders had a rendezvous with history and needed to come together, and show that Europe under duress was able to respond with a common voice and with common means to the Covid-19 crisis. By all measures, this rendezvous with history was missed. European leaders in effect agreed to keep calm and carry on.

They endorsed a roadmap to exit lockdown after each country had in fact already decided and announced their own uncoordinated exit plans. In some countries, such as Germany, deconfinement measures are not a prerogative of the federal government and coordinating between states is challenging enough, let alone coordinating with other countries.

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Coronavirus live news: France to increase testing to 700,000 a week, says PM, as he outlines lockdown exit

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Infections in Saudi Arabia pass 20,000; Germany’s infection rate back at 1.0; Turkey delivers medical kit to the US

The United States accounts for about a third of all confirmed cases.

The global total stands at 3,083,467, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The US has confirmed 1,002,498.

Related: Coronavirus map of the US: latest cases state by state

The US has reached the milestone of one million confirmed cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The US death toll is now over 57,000 people.

Related: Three months and 50,000 deaths: the defining Covid-19 moments in the US – timeline

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Holding Tokyo Olympics in 2021 ‘difficult’, Japan medical association chief warns

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Yoshitake Yokokura is the latest expert to cast doubt on plans to hold the Games in Tokyo next year

The head of the Japan Medical Association (JMA) has added his voice to speculation that the Tokyo Olympics, now due to be held next summer, could again be delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Unless an effective vaccine is developed I think it will be difficult to hold the Olympics next year,” JMA president Yoshitake Yokokura told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. “I’m not saying at this point that they shouldn’t be held. The outbreak is not only confined to Japan ... it’s a worldwide issue.”

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Record 50 million people internally displaced in 2019, study finds

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Covid-19 is likely to impact aid for people forced from their homes by conflict and disaster around the world, experts warn

A total of 50.8 million people around the world were recorded as internally displaced last year, forced from their homes by conflict and disaster. This is the highest number ever, and 10 million more than in 2018.

Annual statistics published by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) calculated that by the end of 2019, 45.7 million people were internally displaced – effectively becoming refugees in their own country – as a result of violence in 61 countries. An additional 5.1 million people in 96 countries had been displaced by disasters.

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Deaths in Nigerian city raise concerns over undetected Covid-19 outbreaks

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Doctors in Kano state report surge in fatal cases of pneumonia among elderly

Nigeria’s president has announced an immediate two-week lockdown in Kano, the largest city in the north, after local reports of a big rise in deaths in recent days.

The federal government would deploy “all the necessary human, material and technical resources” to support Kano state, Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday night.

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