Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak

Australia coronavirus update live: Victoria extends state of emergency as travellers fly in from cruise nightmare – latest news

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Premier Daniel Andrews says state of emergency will be extended for a further four weeks as Australians trapped on Antarctic cruise ship arrive in Melbourne. Follow updates live

McGowan says he took his kids camping ... in his backyard ... over Easter because obviously other locations were unavailable.

And that’s the end of the press conference.

“We’ve successfully flattened the curve, but now we’ve got to figure out how to keep it there but also find out a long-term solution to the problem we face,” McGowan says.

He says he is working on getting commercial tenancy legislation in parliament this week. He’s not sure whether residential tenancy legislation will be ready this week but it will be brought in when it is.

The former will be brought into WA parliament for debate on Wednesday.

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‘A perfect storm’: poverty and race add to Covid-19 toll in US deep south

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Whole families are falling victim as African Americans are hit disproportionately hard by the coronavirus pandemic

Last weekend, at two churches in New Orleans, two pastors read from separate passages of the Bible as they buried four members of the same family. Each had died within days of each other after contracting the novel coronavirus.

Related: 'A nightmare all over again': after surviving Katrina, New Orleans battles Covid-19

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Being locked down with my family is making me panic

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Count your blessings and enjoy the lull this slower pace of life is providing, says Mariella Frostrup

The dilemma I know I should be thinking about the global crisis and what’s happening to those less fortunate, but I can’t get beyond panicking about my own circumstances. I’m stuck at home with four kids, two dogs, a husband whose freelance work is in free fall and my own career is on hold. I’m struggling to deal with being cooped up with young children and I’m also wondering if crimes of passion will receive more lenient sentencing as my husband and I haven’t spent this much time together since our honeymoon! I appreciate you are as new to this as the rest of us, but do you have any words of wisdom?

Mariella replies Not really! Like many of you I know I should be thinking about the bigger picture, but for us mere mortals, who aren’t aspiring to – or ever likely to receive – canonisation, it can be a struggle to see beyond our own noses at the moment.

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Calls for debt relief to help world’s poorest nations fight coronavirus

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Australia urged to use its influence to push for the permanent cancellation of all debt due from vulnerable countries in 2020

Low-income countries need their debts for 2020 forgiven, alongside billions in emergency grants to survive the Covid-19 crisis, civil society groups around the world have said, arguing the viral pandemic will hit hardest the poorest people in the poorest countries.

More than 100 civil society organisations internationally have called on creditor nations to permanently cancel all debt repayments as the “fastest way to keep money in countries and free up resources to tackle the urgent health, social and economic crises resulting from the Covid-19 global pandemic”.

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Release Julian Assange, says woman who had two children with him while in embassy

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Stella Moris, who had two sons with WikiLeaks founder while he was in Ecuadorian embassy, says he is in danger from coronavirus while in prison

The partner of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has revealed that she had two children with him while he was living inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Stella Moris, 37, a South African-born lawyer, issued a plea for the father of her two young sons, Gabriel, three, and Max, one, to be released from prison and said there were genuine fears for Assange’s health.

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Cuomo undercuts De Blasio bid to keep New York schools shut until September

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  • New York City mayor announces schools closed until autumn
  • Shortly afterwards, governor insists decision to close is his

New York governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio once again had differing opinions on who has authority to implement certain Covid-19 policies.

This time, it involved De Blasio’s announcement on Saturday morning that New York City’s school district, which oversees 1.1 million students, would shutter for the rest of the academic year to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. De Blasio said his administration was forging a “comprehensive plan” to safely reopen schools in September and that “next year is going to have to be the greatest academic year New York public schools have ever had”.

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Republican who floated virus conspiracy says ‘common sense has been my guide’

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Tom Cotton told Fox News he did not believe virus originated in Wuhan market and said bioweapons link should not be ruled out

A Republican senator who floated a conspiracy theory which said the Chinese government created Covid-19 in a weapons lab claimed on Saturday that since he first learned of the outbreak, in mid-January, “common sense has been my guide”.

The Covid-19 outbreak began in the Chinese city of Wuhan, but has spread globally and by Saturday evening had killed more people in America, nearly 20,000, than in any other country. White House public health experts have said they currently expect a death toll of around 60,000 in the United States.

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Call for schools to open in the summer after lockdown

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Children’s commissioner says schools will play an important role, but teachers and parents may oppose loss of six-week break

Schools should consider opening in some form over the six-week summer holidays to help children catch up with the curriculum – and to provide childcare for families who need to get back to work, the children’s commissioner has said.

Anne Longfield said that when schools are allowed to reopen, they could be vital during the long summer holidays. “Whether they are open to all or not, schools do have a really important role, especially for vulnerable children over the coming months.”

She added: “It would be really valuable, if the scientific advice says they can, to have schools consider opening in some form over the summer holidays to help children learn and catch up but also to offer them a safe place to play and socialise with friends. It would also provide vital childcare for families who need to get their incomes back up as they, hopefully, return to work.”

Longfield said schools could bring in play, sports and youth workers to help supervise pupils.

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UK political parties unite to demand recall of parliament

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As virus death toll nears 10,000, Labour leader Keir Starmer calls for talks with Speaker
• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

The government faces a chorus of cross-party calls on Sunday for the urgent recall of parliament in “virtual” form as MPs and peers demand the right to hold ministers to account over the escalating coronavirus crisis.

The demands from leaders of all main opposition parties, as well as senior Tories, came after the death toll from Covid-19 in the UK approached 10,000. Deaths from the virus rose by 917 on Saturday compared with Friday to a total of 9,875.

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Wuhan celebrates its ‘liberation’ as Covid-19 lockdown ends

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The people of the city where the first virus was first detected are taking their first cautious steps outside after being confined for three months

Last week the city of Wuhan celebrated the end of its nearly three-month lockdown. Flower beds and trees were planted in parks across from hospitals previously overwhelmed with panicked and sick patients. The streets have been scrubbed clean.

Before midnight last Wednesday, when restrictions barring people from leaving the city were officially lifted, state news outlets sent drones into the sky to film lit-up buildings and bridges. Cars lined up at motorway tollbooths, waiting to leave. Drivers described feeling finally “liberated”. Several housing developments had flags declaring them “virus free”. One said: “Decisive battle, decisive win.”

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Coronavirus live news: US overtakes Italy as country with world’s highest death toll

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US death toll tops 19,600. Italy and India extend lockdown, while IHME revises down forecast for number of deaths in the UK

I’m keen to share some powerful photojournalism from around the world with you.

Here’s a photograph of women in Pakistan queuing up to get government aid to support themselves and their families during coronavirus.

The latest figures for France have just been released by the health ministry. They are as follows:

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Priti Patel says ‘sorry if people feel there have been failings’ over PPE

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Home secretary also launches campaign to tackle domestic abuse during lockdown

The home secretary has said she is sorry if people feel there has been a failure to supply sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) to NHS staff, as it was revealed that 19 UK health workers had died after contracting coronavirus.

Speaking at the daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing, Priti Patel was asked twice if she would apologise about the lack of PPE being provided to frontline workers. “I’m sorry if people feel that there have been failings,” she said. “I will be very, very clear about that.”

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Coronavirus live: US overtakes Italy as country with most Covid-19 deaths

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More than 500,000 cases confirmed in US, according to Johns Hopkins University, as taskforce member warns: ‘We have not reached the peak’

A TV news channel in Mississippi has found a church pastor who says he plans to hold an in-person Easter Sunday service – in contravention of a mayor’s executive order – because he’s upset that more people will be at home improvement stores tomorrow than would be permitted in his congregation.

“It’s kinda hard for me to understand why I can only have 10 in a worship service when I go to Lowe’s, Home Depot, and there are more than 10,” Jesse Horton Sr, pastor at Jackson’s Emmanuel Baptist missionary church, told WAPT-TV.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau says his country faces a “fork in the road” after public health officials revealed a projected death toll between 11,000 and 22,000.

“We will not be coming back to our former normal situation; we can’t do that until we have developed a vaccine and that could take 12 to 18 months,” Trudeau said in an address to the House of Commons in Ottawa. “We don’t exactly know how long – we hope it’s earlier rather than later.”

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‘New hope’: Queen reassures nation in first Easter message

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Monarch’s speech is said to be her contribution to those marking occasion at home

The Queen has sought to reassure the nation that “coronavirus will not overcome us” in her first Easter audio message.

The monarch, who is supreme governor of the Church of England, acknowledged this Easter would be different but said “by keeping apart we keep others safe”. She said “Easter is not cancelled” and the “new hope and fresh purpose” of the festival was needed more than ever.

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Coronavirus crisis demands that the G20 give debt relief to sub-Saharan Africa

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With the IMF and World Bank spring conference approaching, research underlines need to bail out world’s poorest countries

For more than two years the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have warned that sub-Saharan Africa stands on the verge of a debt crisis. Ever since commodity prices began to fall in 2015, the public finances of nations stretching from Nigeria to Kenya and Chad to South Africa have deteriorated.

If China is the manufacturing centre of the world, Africa is its chief supplier of essential materials, from oil and copper to the rare-earth minerals used in mobile phones. As China’s manufacturing waned in the middle of the last decade, so did the crucial foreign earnings that keep African nations afloat.

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Universities brace for huge losses as foreign students drop out

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Call for a government bailout worth billions to help sector survive the crisis

Some universities are already expecting to lose more than £100m as foreign students cancel their studies, with warnings that the impact of coronavirus will be “like a tsunami hitting the sector”.

Several organisations are now planning for a 80-100% reduction in their foreign student numbers this year, with prestigious names said to be among those most affected. The sector is already making a plea to the government for a cash injection amounting to billions of pounds to help it through the crisis, as it is hit by a drop in international student numbers, accommodation deals and conference income.

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Coronavirus: US records 2,000 dead in a day as Italy and India extend lockdowns

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Spain to let some non-essential staff return to work, but Italians shut in until at least 3 May

The US has become the first country to record more than 2,000 deaths from coronavirus in a single day, as its overall toll surpassed that of Italy, making it the worst-hit country in the world.

White House experts said there were some signs the spread of the disease may be levelling off, but the US now has more than half a million confirmed infections and in the last 24 hours 2,108 people died. Hotspots include New York, Detroit, Louisiana and the capital, Washington DC.

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Spain to begin return to work despite fears of resurgence

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Health minister says ban on non-essential workers leaving home was temporary, but country is ‘not de-escalating’

The Spanish government has defended its decision to allow some non-essential workers to return to their jobs in factories and construction sites this coming week despite warnings that any relaxation of confinement measures could lead to a rise in contagion.

The World Health Organization has said there could be a “deadly resurgence” of the coronavirus if countermeasures are lifted too soon, while one of the Spanish government’s own experts has said he thought it would have been sensible to keep non-essential workers at home for longer.

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‘There are two pandemics’: Chicago’s gun violence persists amid lockdown

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Shootings and murders have remained fairly consistent during shelter-in-place, with the city registering more shootings in March than the previous year

The coronavirus pandemic has forced Chicago into lockdown, closing restaurants, bars, stores and even its celebrated lakefront. But the crisis hasn’t slowed the city’s devastating gun violence epidemic.

While crime overall has ticked down slightly amid shelter-in-place orders from local leaders, shootings and murders have remained fairly consistent so far, with the city registering more shootings in March this year than the previous year.

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