Group of former diplomats and ministers says shifting rules on medical trade could save hundreds of thousands of lives
A group of 24 senior diplomats and defence officials, including four former Nato secretary generals, have urged Donald Trump to save “potentially hundreds of thousands of lives” across the Middle East by easing medical and humanitarian sanctions on Iran.
Related: US ignores calls to suspend Venezuela and Iran sanctions amid coronavirus pandemic
Continue reading...My home town took pride in hard work and enterprise. But a reluctance to go into lockdown might have been disastrous
Lombardy is one of the richest and most productive regions in Italy and Bergamo is its beating heart. It is also my home town: the city where I spent my childhood and adolescence. The province’s million inhabitants are characterised by a strong sense of belonging: to region and to family. They take pride too in a no-nonsense, practical approach to life and a powerful work ethic.
Today, Bergamo holds the European record that no town wants: it is the place where the coronavirus pandemic has cast its darkest shadow. Bergamo is a lazaretto of pain, where the priority of hospital managers is to select only the patients they think will survive. Its undertakers are so overwhelmed they have to ask neighbouring communes to take their corpses for cremation.
Continue reading...Doctors will assess how PM is responding to coronavirus, including breathing issues
Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for tests on Sunday night with persistent coronavirus symptoms, 10 days after testing positive. Some estimates suggest that about 5-10% of people with Covid-19 require hospital treatment.
His admission to hospital indicates doctors want to check how his body is responding to the virus, which will probably involve carrying out the following tests:
Continue reading...New toll comes as UK prime minister, who has coronavirus, has been moved into hospital intensive care
We are going to close this live blog. But you can stay up to date on all the latest developments on our new blog here.
In the mean time, you can find all the latest developments below in our At A Glance summary:
Related: Coronavirus latest: at a glance
Just back to Donald Trump’s marathon press conference and he is fielding questions on the US naval commander who was fired over his coronavirus memo, suggesting he doesn’t think his life should be “destroyed” as a result, Sam Levin writes:
He made a mistake. He shouldn’t be sending letter. He’s the captain … you don’t send letters and then it leaks into a newspaper. I may get involved ...If I can help two good people, I’m going to help him
Continue reading...Figure based on Covid-19 closures in Europe and North America lasting to end of April
The continued closure of car plants across Europe and North America will cost the auto industry more than $100bn (£82bn) in lost revenues if the shutdown lasts until the end of April.
All major European carmakers have suspended production because of disruption caused by the spread of the coronavirus and if this continues as expected until the end of April, this will account for $66bn (£54bn) in lost sales in Europe, or 2.6m cars. In North America this will account for 2m cars, and lost sales of about $52bn (£42bn).
Continue reading...It is unlikely the prime minister will have been admitted unless doctors have real concerns
Most people recover from Covid-19 within a week and cannot even be certain they had it, as they probably won’t be tested. The advice is to stay home, rest and take paracetamol. In 80% of cases, that is the end of it.
But NHS advice is that if the symptoms – mainly the dry cough, temperature and fatigue – have not gone by the end of a week, or they get worse, people should seek medical help.
Continue reading...Covid-19 is the subject of topical, colourful and attention-grabbing street art, whether it is for artistic, educational or political ends
Continue reading...Up to 100,000 women could be left unable to support families as brothels are closed amid fears of Covid-19 outbreak
The government of Bangladesh has started sending emergency food and aid to the tens of thousands of women working in the country’s commercial sex industry as brothels across the country close.
To try to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the authorities have ordered the lockdown of the sex industry, closing the country’s biggest brothel in Goalanda in the Rajbari District of Dhaka until 5 April along with many others across the country.
Continue reading...Social media posts have shown lines stretching hundreds of meters as Coles, Woolworths and IGA enforce physical distancing
Long lines have formed outside supermarkets after Coles, Woolworths and IGA began limiting the number of customers inside stores in a bid to allow physical distancing and keep flattening the curve of Covid-19 infections during the Easter rush.
The Thursday before Easter is traditionally one of the busiest days for supermarkets, as people stock up for the weekend.
Continue reading...Home Office urged to ‘act urgently’ to rescue vulnerable minors and reunite them with family while flights still available
After seven months of waiting, Ahmed* had everything ready for his younger brother. Finally, 18-year-old Wahid was due to arrive from the Greek island of Samos under family reunion laws.
But on 19 March, as Covid-19 took hold across Europe, the Greek authorities called to tell him the transfer had been cancelled because of the growing restrictions on flights. Greece had suspended direct flights to the UK but indirect routes are still available.
Continue reading...Thousands of council workers could have been deployed by the government but were not asked
The government has been accused of missing an opportunity after it failed to deploy 5,000 contact tracing experts employed by councils to help limit the spread of coronavirus.
Environmental health workers in local government have wide experience in contact tracing, a process used to prevent infections spreading and routinely carried out in outbreaks such as of norovirus, salmonella or legionnaires’ disease. But a spokesperson for Public Health England (PHE), which leads on significant outbreaks, said the organisation did not call upon environmental health workers to carry out contact tracing for coronavirus, instead using its own local health protection teams.
Continue reading...Rules enforcement highlights problem of getting message across to minority community
It wasn’t a typical police operation. Two Israeli officers were to go undercover, although not posing as drug dealers or arms traffickers. For this particular assignment, they were to disguise themselves as ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Their mission on Friday was to bust an illegal gathering in a synagogue. People were praying together, a practice that is now against the law in the era of the coronavirus. Once the officers got inside to confirm the crowd, more units barged in and dispersed people.
Continue reading...Defence ministry presses on with plans for 9 May event with 15,000 troops, despite coronavirus pandemic
Russia is holding rehearsals for its Victory Day parade, scheduled for 9 May despite the coronavirus crisis, as the Kremlin resists cancelling a patriotic holiday with major political significance.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is supposed to host France’s Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders at a military parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the second world war. The event is a significant historical landmark for Russia and a coveted photo opportunity to claim Putin’s re-emergence from political isolation in the west.
Continue reading...With the PM in hospital for his coronavirus symptoms, we look at who will fill the void at the head of the UK government
In his role as first secretary of state, the prime minister’s de facto deputy, Dominic Raab will be expected to stand in for Boris Johnson if he is unable to work because of coronavirus.
While other ministers, including the health secretary Matt Hancock and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, have been more visible during the Covid-19 outbreak, that position means he takes up the prime minister’s responsibilities if Johnson were unable to perform them himself.
Continue reading...Monarch’s rare non-festive TV address delivered the clear moral leadership that many politicians have failed to provide
Now we know just how serious things are. The UK has just wheeled out its biggest gun. The Queen has only ever given an unscheduled TV address to the nation on four previous occasions, either when the nation or the royal family itself was under threat. And as sure as hell Her Majesty wasn’t about to update us on Prince Andrew handing himself over to the FBI or Harry and Meghan’s ongoing flat hunting nightmare; this could only mean the country was in a coronavirus crisis.
Keeping one hand firmly clasped around her wrist and her body a safe distance from a lone BBC cameraman dressed in a hazmat suit – there’s no shortage of personal protective equipment in Windsor Castle – the Queen, interspersed with footage of NHS workers and the wider general public, spoke to the country from her study. Wisely, she kept it short and sweet. This wasn’t a Christmas message when half the country would be pissed and the other half wouldn’t be listening. Now every sentence would be picked over and every word would count.
Continue reading...The Queen has praised Britain’s 'national spirit' in facing the challenge of coronavirus as she evoked wartime memories to reassure those 'feeling a painful sense of separation from their loved ones' to take comfort in the fact: 'We will meet again.'
Continue reading...In a special broadcast, the monarch said we will overcome the coronavirus crisis if we ‘remain united and resolute’
The Queen has praised Britain’s “national spirit” in facing the challenge of coronavirus as she evoked wartime memories to reassure those “feeling a painful sense of separation from their loved ones” to take comfort in the fact: “We will meet again.”
In only the fifth special televised broadcast, other than Christmas messages, of her long reign, she said: “While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal.”
Continue reading...Scotland’s chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, has apologised after she visited her second home in Fife in breach of her own advice to avoid travel. Calderwood was pictured on Saturday with her family taking a walk with their dog in the East Neuk, a picturesque area on the Firth of Forth about 45 miles from her main home in Edinburgh
Continue reading...Spain records smallest rate of increase in infections; Trump tells Americans to expect ‘a lot of death’; Global deaths approach 65,000
Here are the key developments of the last few hours:
The country’s health minister has announced that Barbados has recorded its first death from the coronavirus.
The victim is said to be an 81-year-old male who had an underlying medical condition and had travelled to the UK.
Continue reading...Catherine Calderwood apologises after visiting second home despite issuing advice to stay in
Scotland’s chief medical officer has been forced to step back from public briefings after a furious reaction to news she broke her own rules to twice visit her second home during the coronavirus outbreak.
But despite mounting calls for Catherine Calderwood to resign from her position, Nicola Sturgeon on Sunday insisted that she would continue to play a key role in guiding the Scottish government’s response to the crisis.
Continue reading...