Carriages and stations appeared crowded in footage shared on social media on Tuesday morning as Transport for London closed a number of stations and reduced trains despite thousands of key workers, including NHS staff, still relying on the tube to get to work.
On Monday, Boris Johnson announced that people should stay at home and only travel to and from work where 'absolutely necessary' as the UK tries to prevent the spread of coronavirus
Continue reading...Musician who influenced Michael Jackson dies in Paris hospital from Covid-19 infection
Manu Dibango, the Cameroonian musician celebrated for his blend of jazz, funk and traditional west African styles, has died aged 86 in a Paris hospital after contracting Covid-19.
A message on his Facebook page announced the news with “deep sadness”, and added: “His funeral service will be held in strict privacy, and a tribute to his memory will be organised when possible.”
Continue reading...Fears are growing about the spread of coronavirus in camps where few can afford soap, water is rare and social distancing impossible
In the Nabadoon camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Asho Abdullahi Hassan, a 40-year-old mother of seven, has heard about the coronavirus on the radio.
“I am very scared about this deadly virus. I only heard about it from the news. It is like we are waiting for death to come,” she says.
Continue reading...Health minister Greg Hunt has asked for an urgent briefing on hydroxychloroquine but it has been known to cause heart damage and toxicity
The health minister Greg Hunt has asked for an urgent briefing about the clinical trial of a decades-old drug in the prevention of Covid-19, as countries race to find a way to prevent serious cases and slow the spread.
But infectious disease experts have warned the drug, hydroxychloroquine, is far from proven as effective in treating Covid-19 and that it could take several months for results to be conclusive. In previous studies for other conditions, hydroxychloroquine has been shown to cause heart damage and toxicity.
Continue reading...Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post use open letter to urge reversal of decision
Publishers of the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have pleaded with the Chinese government not to expel their reporters, in an open letter published on Tuesday.
Earlier this month at least 13 journalists from the three major US news organisations were ordered to leave China in response to what the government said was “unreasonable oppression” of Chinese journalists in the US.
Continue reading...Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach has been left empty after it was closed by Brazilian authorities to halt the spread of coronavirus. Police have been asking people to leave the beach, while making loudspeaker announcements in English, Spanish and Portuguese asking people to remain indoors
Continue reading...The US President, Donald Trump, jokingly moved away from the White House's coronavirus task force response coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx, after she mentioned her 'low grade fever'. Birx revealed she was tested for Covid-19, emphasising the need for personal responsibility to battle the coronavirus outbreak
Continue reading...Some travellers told they could be stuck for months because transit countries will not accept passengers from Indonesia
British nationals stuck on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali are calling on the government to bring them home, saying they face the prospect of being trapped for months due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Two travellers told the Guardian they had tried to follow Foreign Office advice to return home immediately due to the escalating seriousness of the Covid-19 outbreak, only to arrive at Bali’s Denpasar airport and be told they would not be able to board flights due to travel restrictions in countries through which they transit.
Continue reading...Fear of being left without money or food following suspension of some NGO activities adds to already desperate situation
Hundreds of refugees forced to leave a UN-run centre in Libya earlier this year, including survivors of the Tajoura detention centre bombing, are among those worried about being cut off from aid in the coronavirus outbreak.
Last week, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced it would suspend some activities in Libya, including work at a Tripoli community day centre and a registration centre where new arrivals can sign up for help. UNHCR will also stop making visits to detention centres until staff are given personal protective equipment, though a spokesperson said the agency will increase phone counselling and outreach to refugee community leaders. Both UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration have halted resettlement flights for refugees and migrants globally.
Continue reading...Even the president’s critics have urged him to use the full power of the federal government to tackle the pandemic but experts warn of potential dangers
Standing in the Brady briefing room at the White House last week Donald Trump said that despite new restrictions on the number of journalists allowed in the room, there were still too many reporters around.
“You’re actually sitting too close,” the president told the journalists. “We should probably get rid of about another 75, 80% of you. I have just two or three that I like in this room.”
Continue reading...To watch Trump is to witness the awesome and terrifying power of the American president over life and death – a burden he is unqualified to bear
Due to social distancing, there were only two dozen or so reporters in the White House press briefing room on Monday, making it feel like a flight with numerous empty seats and lots of legroom.
But when Donald Trump let rip for nearly two hours, it was as if the captain had announced a sudden whim to land the plane on water while wearing a blindfold. We sat tight for an unnerving journey.
Continue reading...Despite a rising death toll, US president Donald Trump vows to 'open up our country' in a matter of weeks, not months, as the coronavirus crisis hits the economy. Trump raised concerns the 'cure' to the pandemic could be 'worse than the problem itself' as cities across the US go into lockdown. "It started out as a purely medical problem and it's not going to go beyond that,' he said. He also urged people not to blame Asian Americans for the outbreak, saying 'they are working closely with us to get rid of it'
From fanning national anxiety with claims of a cyber-attack on MyGov, to a lack of empathy for the jobless, the government services minister has no grasp of the gravity of our times
“It was heartbreaking stuff yesterday Alan.”
“Alan”, naturally, is Alan Jones and our heartbreak town crier is Stuart Robert – the minister charged with rolling out government support to Australians knocked sideways courtesy of the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Three social leaders were killed last week after quarantine measures were introduced
Death squads in Colombia are taking advantage of coronavirus lockdowns to murder rural activists, local NGOs have warned.
Related: 'Staggering number' of human rights activists killed in Colombia, UN reports
Continue reading...As borders close and social distancing increases, what are our responsibilities to the people who keep working?
Amid coronavirus-induced stockpiling and empty supermarket shelves, politicians have been quick to assure us of the reliability of Australia’s food supply systems.
Writing for the Guardian last week, agriculture minister David Littleproud slammed “ridiculous” panic-buying, saying: “It is important to understand that Australian farmers produce enough food for 75 million people: three times what we need”. Farmers, he continued, are “calmly going about the business of food production”, “preparing to sow and pick their crops and making sure their produce makes it to market”.
Continue reading...
Edouard Philippe, the French prime minister, has said that country’s lockdown could last several more weeks, with new restrictions – including limits on daily exercise outside the home – now in place:
Any morning constitutional/jogging now has to be within 1km of home, 1 hour max, alone, and only once per day. https://t.co/3CvQzDtZpb
The International Olympic Committee is facing almost irresistible pressure to postpone the Tokyo Olympics this week rather than wait until its mid-April deadline – with a growing number of athletes, governments and national federations saying it is unfair to keep them in limbo during the coronavirus pandemic.
Veteran IOC member Dick Pound told USA Today that the Games would be postponed, likely to 2021, with the details to be worked out in the next four weeks. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”
Related: Athletes across globe call for Olympic postponement as countries pull out
Continue reading...
The death toll in New York City is now approaching 100. The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the city on Monday was 12,339 with 99 deaths. There are just over 20,000 confirmed cases in New York state as a whole and 157 deaths. For context, there are around 41,200 confirmed cases in the entire United States.
The State Department says it is trying to help around 13,500 US citizens who wish to return home from abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic. An official told reporters on Monday that the department is looking at chartering planes to repatriate Americans abroad, and priority would be given to those in need. “If we have somebody who is 70 years old with an underlying condition, such as diabetes or heart disease, that person is going to get a higher priority on one of those flights, than the hale and hearty 20 year old,” the official said.
Continue reading...Pause follows uncertainty over how trials would work given physical distancing needs
Crown court trials across England and Wales were suspended or collapsed on Monday as judges attempted to find safer ways for juries and lawyers to conduct hearings.
There have been suggestions, including from the Ministry of Justice, that courts move to handling urgent work only during the coronavirus crisis, but no one has defined what types of cases that might involve.
Continue reading...Jobs seen as lowly are now recognised as key, and nationalising the railways is no longer controversial. Many things we thought were true a few weeks ago no longer are
All the things that were taken to be self-evident a couple of weeks ago are no longer so. That is how fast this epidemic is spreading. Having known liars in charge of telling us the truth – whether Boris Johnson or Donald Trump – does not help. “Truth is mighty and will prevail,” said Mark Twain, before adding: “There is nothing wrong with this, except it ain’t so.”
It certainly ain’t so and what we are seeing is mass cognitive dissonance. That is the stress produced when people seek some kind of consistency between how they think life is and what we may call reality. It is really discomforting to be given information that does not fit in with your beliefs. This results in denial or in justification for actions that do not fit the situation. Sometimes we may simply refuse to believe what we are told, attempting to resolve the contradiction between our inner and outer worlds by believing whatever we want to believe. This is precisely why behavioural changes are so hard to make and why messages have to be clear. Cognitive dissonance is coming from the top down, as well as from the bottom up. There is little difference between a government reluctance to announce a lockdown and people having barbecues together in the parks. It is way easier to blame all this on Johnson’s adviser, Dominic Cummings, than to see it as a collective political failure. If anyone needs to “take back control” it is each of us now.
Continue reading...Despite national cabinet process aiming for consistency, states and territories now have a patchwork of responses
New South Wales Catholic schools have asked for the government’s help to take teaching online, warning it could take months to roll out and result in a “digital divide” between schools.
The chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW, Dallas McInerney, wrote to the NSW government on Tuesday seeking help, after the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced schools would stay open – although parents are encouraged to keep their children home where they can.
Continue reading...