Hannity responds to open letter signed by 74 journalism professors and leading journalists claiming Fox News spread false statements
Fox News host Sean Hannity has hit back against intense criticism of the conservative network’s coronavirus coverage, even claiming in a new interview he was ahead of most media in taking Covid-19 seriously.
Related: How science finally caught up with Trump's playbook – with millions of lives at stake
Continue reading...The National Orchestra of France has been posting its performances to YouTube while players are confined to their homes under lockdown measures to stop the spread of coronavirus. Using video and audio technology, the musicians recorded themselves playing Bolero alone at home but together online
The Indian prime minister’s handling of the pandemic has heaped more misery on the country’s poorest citizens
For more than a decade, Begum Jan had managed to survive on the streets of Kolkata. A longtime wheelchair-user, she had a specific spot on a busy street. Rickshaw drivers and passers-by always made sure she had something to eat.
But last week, for the first time since she became homeless after falling ill with tuberculosis and losing her job as a housemaid, the 62-year-old was in danger of starving.
Continue reading...Josep Borrell backs UN call for global ceasefire to allow the world to focus on pandemic
Sanctions should not stop the delivery of medical equipment and supplies to countries trying to contain outbreaks of coronavirus, the EU’s top diplomat has said.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, made his comments in a declaration on Friday in which he backed the UN’s call for an immediate global ceasefire to allow the world to focus on the pandemic.
Continue reading...Donald Trump has said he will probably not wear a protective face mask despite his administration encouraging people in the US to do so in public to prevent spreading the coronavirus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance for people to wear bandanas, T-shirts and other cloth-based coverings in crowded areas, particularly in hotspots.
Lack of testing and failure to report on cases means scale of outbreak could be far greater than thought, doctors warn
Brazil is bracing for a surge in coronavirus cases as doctors and researchers warn that underreporting and a lack of testing mean nobody knows the real scale of Covid-19’s spread.
“What’s happening is enormous underreporting,” said Isabella Rêllo, a doctor working in emergency and intensive care in Rio de Janeiro hospitals, in a widely shared Facebook post challenging official numbers. “There are MANY more,” she wrote.
Continue reading...As the coronavirus crisis deepens, the plight of people crossing the Mediterranean to escape conflict has been all but forgotten. A crew of German rescuers is intent on bucking that trend
After a two-month break, the Alan Kurdi migrant rescue boat is heading back out into the central Mediterranean, as asylum seekers continue to attempt the desperate journey to reach Europe despite coronavirus fears.
The boat, operated by the German NGO Sea-Eye, left the Spanish port of Castellón de la Plana on Tuesday and is expected to reach waters off the coast of Libya this weekend.
Continue reading...People across China have paused for three minutes to remember the patients and medical workers who died in the coronavirus outbreak. Citizens stood still, while cars, trains and ships sounded their horns, and air-raid sirens rang out in memory of the more than 3,000 lives lost. In Wuhan, where the outbreak began, all traffic lights in urban areas turned red for three minutes. The city of 11 million was the hardest hit by the outbreak, recording 2,567 fatalities. This accounts for more than three quarters of China’s coronavirus deaths.
Reports emerge of fresh cruise ship transfers as state opposition calls for Brad Hazzard’s resignation over Ruby Princess
The New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, has defended the role of health experts who allowed 2,700 passengers to disembark the Ruby Princess cruise ship and make their own way home, following reports that authorities knew about the widespread respiratory sickness on board.
NSW Health has confirmed it had been aware of 104 people with “acute respiratory infections” on the Ruby Princess. Leaked emails show the ship’s doctor told authorities on 18 March that people who had presented at the onboard medical clinic with flu-like symptoms had tested negative for influenza.
Continue reading...New York sees 3,000 deaths in 30 days; China remembers those who died fighting virus; Trump rejects advice to wear masks. Follow the latest updates
The Municipality of Livorno in Italy has begun printing stamped and numbered food vouchers which can be obtained by submitting a self-certification. The scheme, which began on Saturday, enables those in need to claim 200-400 euros in vouchers for their shopping.
Bermuda has entered two weeks of lockdown, which will see people given slots to shop according to their surnames, Bermuda’s daily newspaper the Royal Gazette is reporting.
Visits to grocery shops and gas stations will be organised alphabetically, with people with surnames from A to K shopping on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and those with names from L to Z on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Sundays will be reserved for elderly people.
Continue reading...A police robot is patrolling the streets of the capital calling out suspected violators of the lockdown
Tunisia’s interior ministry has sent a police robot to patrol the streets of the capital and enforce a lockdown imposed last month as the country battles the spread of coronavirus.
Known as PGuard, the “robocop” is remotely operated and equipped with infrared and thermal imaging cameras, in addition to a sound and light alarm system.
Continue reading...German politician adds to chorus of complaints about American tactics to source protective gear
The US has been accused of “modern piracy” after reportedly diverting a shipment of masks intended for the German police, and outbidding other countries in the increasingly fraught global market for coronavirus protective equipment.
About 200,000 N95 masks were diverted to the US as they were being transferred between planes in Thailand, according to the Berlin authorities who said they had ordered the masks for the police force.
Continue reading...At the daily Downing Street press conference on Friday, England’s chief nursing officer, Ruth May, invoked the deaths of nurses Areema Nasreen and Aimee O’Rourke as she urged members of the public to stay at home. 'This weekend is going to be very warm and it will be very tempting to go out and enjoy those summer rays,' she said. 'But please, I ask you to remember Aimee and Areema. Please stay at home for them.'
Health officials in Canada’s most populous province say extreme measures have probably prevented far higher death toll
Health officials in Ontario have warned that as many as 15,000 will die from the coronavirus in Canada’s most populous province in the coming months, but said extreme measures already in place have probably saved many more lives.
The province released its coronavirus projections on Friday, as it prepares for a surge in cases that could overwhelm the province’s already-strained healthcare system.
Continue reading...In the age of Covid-19 we are taking comfort from animals and wildlife – but we should learn from them too
First, the eyes. I pressed mine to the opening of a little wooden house. The park ranger behind me cleared her throat.
“Yeah, watch out because they jum–”
Continue reading...Andrew Cuomo has said he will sign an executive order to take ventilators and personal protection equipment from facilities in New York state that have them and do not need them to deal with the virus. He said the equipment would be returned or reimbursed, but the move is likely to spark outcry from hospitals in upstate New York, which has seen fewer coronavirus cases.
Continue reading...Mexico’s homicide rate raced to a new record in March, as violence raged even as Covid-19 spread across the country and authorities urged the population to stay home and practise social distancing.
Mexico registered 2,585 homicides in March – the highest monthly figure since records began in 1997 – putting 2020 on track to break last year’s record total for murders.
Continue reading...Certificates to prove people are immune to Covid-19 could ease restrictions. How would such as scheme work in Britain?
No 10 has pointed to immunity passports as a way to end the lockdown. How would the policy work in practice?
Continue reading...President again undermines efforts to tackle coronavirus by criticising state’s governor
The Brazilian president has further undermined efforts to control the spread of coronavirus by criticising what he called “dictatorial” moves to stop citizens going to the beach.
In an interview on Thursday, Jair Bolsonaro hit out at Rio de Janeiro’s governor, Wilson Witzel, who this week ordered the state’s 17 million citizens to stay at home – and off the sands.
Continue reading...Dead bodies kept in homes or dumped on roadsides as authorities and hospitals are overwhelmed by Covid-19 in Andean nation’s second city
Democratic leaders given poll boost for handling of crisis
It has been three days since Reynaldo Barrezueta passed away at his home in Ecuador’s biggest city – and still his body lies in a coffin on the sitting room floor.
“The authorities are just leaving us to die,” said his son, Eduardo Javier Barrezueta Chávez, who has spent the last 72 hours pleading with authorities remove his father’s corpse – so far to no avail.
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