The threat of the coronavirus is only compounded by a legacy of racial disparities that makes Milwaukee one of the worst places to be black in the US
“It’s a hoax,” Donald Trump said.
“It’s just the flu,” my friend told me.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak
How the coronavirus changed what we worry about – video
In the space of one month, the UK has gone from business as usual to deserted cities as it is forced to deal with the menace of Covid-19. It poses a clear and present threat to our health, but what are the other concerns? Using search and traffic data from the Citizens Advice website for March 2020, a picture emerges of the worries of a nation as it battles the disease
Continue reading...Wuhan ends coronavirus lockdown – in pictures
After 76 days sealed off from the world, the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic began, has opened its doors again. At midnight on Wednesday, authorities allowed residents to leave the city for the first time since 23 January, when 11 million people were put under lockdown to contain the quickly spreading virus
Continue reading...Wuhan pays tribute to key workers with light show as lockdown is lifted – video
A midnight light show brightened up the sky in Wuhan as the former centre of the coronavirus outbreak celebrated its 'reopening'. The central Chinese city started lifting outbound travel restrictions on Wednesday after almost 11 weeks of lockdown. Across the Yangtze River, skyscrapers and seven bridges radiated with images of health workers, troops, police officers and other key workers
Continue reading...Flattening Australia’s coronavirus curve: is community transmission increasing?
Local transmissions have overtaken infections acquired overseas, but Australia is making ‘real progress’ on reducing rate
- Coronavirus Australia maps and cases: live numbers and statistics
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An analysis of the latest government data on coronavirus shows locally acquired infections have outnumbered infections acquired overseas for the past four days.
The analysis also shows the growth in locally acquired cases is slowing in New South Wales and Victoria, the two states for which detailed data is available.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: global trade forecast to fall by up to a third as US sees highest one-day death toll
Scientists predict UK will be worst-hit country in Europe; Trump threatens to stop WHO funding; Global cases pass 1.4 million
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- US sees highest one-day death toll from coronavirus
- US coronavirus updates – live
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Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Kenya has reported seven new confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The country’s ministry of health has provided all the information about the latest developments on Twitter.
In the last 24 hours, we have tested a total of 305 samples, out of which seven people have tested positive for the Coronavirus disease. All the seven are Kenyans.#KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/nUQJY8nOND
Four of confirmed cases have a history of travel; (1) from Congo, (1) UK and (2) USA.
Five are from Nairobi county, one Mombasa and one Uasin Gishu.#KomeshaCorona
✅With regard to contacts tracing, a total of 2,004 persons have been monitored. Out of these, 1,426 have been discharged and 578 are currently on follow up. To date, we have managed to test 5,278 samples from individuals. #KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/eoRg1wHdeP
✅In terms of severity breakdown of the 179 cases, 1 case is under critical care, while the rest- 178- are moderate & mild cases. A patient who was in critical care is moving to the ward today. 2 additional cases have been discharged in the last 24 hours. #KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/cLEtYIgCa7
✅Of the 7 people have tested positive for the #COVID-19. All the 7 are Kenyans. 4 of them have a history of travel; 1 from Congo, UK 1 & USA 2. In terms of distribution per their counties of residence, Nairobi has 5, Mombasa 1 & Uasin Gishu 1.#KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/FnLrZn3c8Q
Continue reading...Coronavirus in Africa: what happens next?
As Covid-19 creeps across the region, fears mount over how it will unfold. Will a young population help stem the spread of disease, or will it unleash catastrophe on creaking health systems?
Just seven weeks after Africa recorded its first case of Covid-19 – an Italian national in Algeria – the virus is creeping across the continent, infecting more than 10,000 people and causing 487 deaths. Three of the region’s 54 countries – São Tome and Principe, Comoros, and Lesotho – remain apparently virus-free.
“Case numbers are increasing exponentially in the African region,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa. “It took 16 days from the first confirmed case in the region to reach 100 cases. It took a further 10 days to reach the first thousand. Three days after this, there were 2,000 cases, and two days later we were at 3,000.”
Continue reading...Trump stokes fresh coronavirus row as Wuhan reopens
US president accuses World Health Organization of China bias as New York records its highest daily death toll and Wuhan lockdown eases
Donald Trump has criticised the World Health Organization (WHO), and by implication Beijing, saying the global body is “China centric” and “biased” towards the rival superpower.
As Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak, began to return to normal life, Trump said the WHO had “been wrong about a lot of things”, and threatened to put a hold on WHO funding. When asked if that was a good idea during a pandemic, Trump denied saying it, and then said they would “look at it”.
Continue reading...‘The NHS needs them’: UK urged to join countries mobilising migrant medics
As several countries relax immigration rules for medically-trained refugees and migrants in the wake of coronavirus, campaigners are calling for Britain to follow suit
Campaigners have welcomed the relaxation of immigration restrictions by governments across Europe and the Americas to allow doctors, nurses and other key workers from refugee and migrant communities to join efforts against coronavirus.
And they urged countries still preventing medically-trained asylum seekers from working – including Britain – to follow suit
Continue reading...Coronavirus: 100 days that changed the world
It started with a warning. It turned into a pandemic that has transformed life as we know it
A turbulent decade had reached its final day. It was New Year’s Eve 2019 and much of the world was preparing to celebrate.
Continue reading...Australia’s arts have been hardest hit by coronavirus. So why aren’t they getting support? | Esther Anatolitis
The majority of arts companies and casuals will get little benefit from the jobkeeper package
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- Coronavirus Australia maps and cases: live numbers and statistics
Data released this week proves what the arts and recreation industry already knows: we are by far the industry hardest hit by Covid-19’s economic destruction.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, only 47% of arts and recreation businesses remain trading. And that number is falling.
Continue reading...Robots replace students at Japan graduation ceremony amid Covid-19 outbreak – video
A university in Japan has held a graduation ceremony for students using avatar robots remotely controlled by graduating students from their homes. The avatar robots, dubbed 'Newme,' by developer ANA Holdings, were dressed in graduation caps and gowns for the ceremony, complete with tablets projecting the graduates' faces. Business Breakthrough (BBT) University in Tokyo said it hoped the approach could be used as a model for other schools wishing to avoid large gatherings amid the pandemic. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has declared a state of emergency for the capital Tokyo and six other prefectures, for a period of about one month
New York state suffers largest single-day increase in coronavirus deaths
Governor reports 731 deaths on Monday as number killed in New York City eclipses death toll from 9/11
New York suffered the highest single-day increase in its death toll from coronavirus, governor Andrew Cuomo reported on Tuesday, even as those in the state were still under orders to stay at home.
The governor noted the three-day average of hospitalizations was down, indicating the state is “reaching a plateau in the total number of hospitalizations”.
Continue reading...Human impact on wildlife to blame for spread of viruses, says study
Increased contact with animals likely cause of outbreaks such as Covid-19, say experts, as conservationists call for global ban on wildlife markets
Hunting, farming and the global move of people to cities has led to massive declines in biodiversity and increased the risk of dangerous viruses like Covid-19 spilling over from animals to humans, a major study has concluded.
In a paper that suggests the underlying cause of the present pandemic is likely to be increased human contact with wildlife, scientists from Australia and the US traced which animals were most likely to share pathogens with humans.
Continue reading...‘If it comes, it will be a disaster’: life in one of the only countries without coronavirus
The Pacific nation of Vanuatu is one of the few places that is coronavirus-free, but efforts to stop its arrival have been hampered by a category five cyclone
On Sunday morning, 62 guests prepared to check out of an idyllic resort, surrounded by palm trees and overlooking a lagoon, in Vanuatu’s capital of Port Vila.
But instead of taxis waiting to take them to the airport, familiar faces were anxiously waiting to take their loved ones back home.
Continue reading...How can coronavirus models get it so wrong?
Analysis depends on data – so predictions for Italy and Spain, where peak has passed, are more reliable than for UK
The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, based at the University of Washington, is the best organisation in the world at collecting data on diseases and mapping out why we fall ill.
Its Global Burden of Disease study is a massive collaborative effort that is valued and used in every country. But even for such an organisation, predicting what will happen to us all as a result of Covid-19 is a tricky business.
Continue reading...Mark Sedwill: the securocrat steering Dominic Raab through Covid-19 crisis
Supporters of cabinet secretary say his role will be crucial with Boris Johnson ill
He has been called the most powerful man in the UK, a securocrat who is too smooth for his own good.
But few would dispute that the influence of the cabinet secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, has increased since Boris Johnson was admitted to St Thomas’ hospital with coronavirus on Sunday night.
Continue reading...Donald Trump ‘lost $1bn in a month’ from coronavirus lockdown
Stock market crash strips billionaire status from 267 of world’s richest people in the annual list
Donald Trump lost an estimated $1bn of his paper fortune in the past month as the coronavirus lockdown forced the closure of offices, shopping centres, hotels and golf courses he owns.
The US president’s fortune has fallen from an estimated $3.1bn (£2.5bn) on 1 March to $2.1bn on 18 March (at the height of stock market panic caused by the coronavirus pandemic) according to Forbes magazine’s annual billionaires list.
Continue reading...Qantas staff ‘incredibly fearful’ about flights to rescue Australians trapped overseas
Airline turns to New Zealand after failing to get sufficient volunteers from Australia amid coronavirus fears
Qantas is moving to recruit cabin staff from its New Zealand subsidiary to operate scheduled flights to rescue Australians trapped overseas, after it failed to get sufficient volunteers from its Australian cabin staff to operate planned flights.
Amid news that 50 Qantas and Jetstar staff have contracted coronavirus there has been growing anxiety among Qantas staff about plans to resume flights to Los Angeles, London, Auckland and Hong Kong later this week.
Continue reading...Dominic Raab calls Boris Johnson ‘a fighter’ in Covid-19 battle – video
The UK's foreign secretary says he is 'confident' the prime minister will recover after he was moved into intensive care with Covid-19 on Monday evening
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