People living in Madrid stood on balconies and leaned out of windows to clap and cheer doctors and healthcare workers on Saturday evening following a campaign launched on social media to show appreciation after the Spanish government declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus.
People have been ordered to stay at home for two weeks unless they have to buy food or medicine or go to work or hospital as Spain has become the country most affected by the coronavirus in Europe after Italy.
As Covid-19 spreads worldwide, the people of Hubei explain how they dealt with the lockdown
In the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, where millions have been under lockdown for the last two months, Hubei residents have been coping with uncertainty, anxiety and stress.
As the virus spreads around the world, people living in the province spoke to the Guardian about how they coped with prolonged confinement, isolation and panic, and the strategies they used to protect their mental health.
Continue reading...The president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been ‘haphazard’, from a cascade of false statements to a public address that fueled anxiety
With his back to the wall, Donald Trump turned to perhaps the only people that truly impress him: not health experts or scientists but the titans of corporate America.
Confronted by a global pandemic he cannot bully, insult or out-tweet, the president paraded chief executives at the White House in the hope they could dig him out of a hole partly of his own making.
Continue reading...Food shops, tobacconists, banks, and public transport will remain open despite the order
France has announced the closure of all public places “non-essential” to public life including restaurants, cafes, cinemas and discos from midnight Saturday.
“We must absolutely limit movement, meetings and contacts,” French prime minister Edouard Philippe said on Saturday evening. Food shops, tobacconists, banks and public transport will remain open, he said.
Continue reading...All travel between the United States and the UK and Ireland will be suspended from midnight EST on Monday. Vice-president Mike Pence announced the new measure at a coronavirus task force news briefing on Saturday.
A top medical official Anthony Fauci said the move could change the course of coronavirus's spread across the country, which he said 'has not yet reached its peak'.
Continue reading...Donald Trump has confirmed he took a coronavirus test after exposure to infected people including a member of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s entourage in Florida last weekend. He revealed he had been tested at a briefing where it was announced the US would ban travellers from the UK and Ireland from entering the country from Monday.
A White House physician later issued a statement confirming that Trump does not have Covid-19. Meanwhile, his daughter Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser, entered self-isolation on Friday after meeting an Australian politician later revealed to have tested positive.
Continue reading...The coronavirus should remind us of just why international cooperation is so important in reducing the threat of infectious disease
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Brexit threatens the UK’s ability to respond to the novel coronavirus and future pandemics
The coronavirus pandemic could not have come at a worse time for the UK and its citizens. Just as UK government ministers are digging in for the really difficult part of Brexit, the negotiations on future relationships with the EU and the rest of the world, a new virus comes out of China that reminds us of just why international co-operation is so important.
Continue reading...As the coronavirus spreads through the British population, there is one fact we can all agree on. Whether we like it or not, society’s greatest taboo – death and dying – has been thrust unequivocally centre stage.
How could it not, when government strategy is to allow the virus to infect huge swathes of the country in the hope of building sufficient “herd immunity” to protect from future harm? The virus has killed an estimated 3.4% of those it has infected, according to the World Health Organization, although this figure is expected to decline as the true number of people infected becomes apparent. Herd immunity, according to Downing Street’s chief scientific adviser, requires a minimum infection rate of 60% of the population. Thus we may face a potential early and unexpected death toll of hundreds of thousands of Britons.
Continue reading...French minister says patients should take paracetamol rather than ibuprofen or cortisone
French authorities have warned that widely used over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs may worsen the coronavirus.
The country’s health minister, Olivier Véran, who is a qualified doctor and neurologist, tweeted on Saturday: “The taking of anti-inflammatories [ibuprofen, cortisone … ] could be a factor in aggravating the infection. In case of fever, take paracetamol. If you are already taking anti-inflammatory drugs, ask your doctor’s advice.”
Continue reading...Donald Trump has welcomed legislation that will help fund paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, free testing and other measures to help Americans affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Related: 'I don't take responsibility': Trump shakes hands and spreads blame over coronavirus
Continue reading...The city isn’t a ghost town – yet – but small businesses are hurting for customers as polite pedestrians avoid physical contact
Running through Manhattan from the Battery to the Bronx, Broadway is New York City’s lifeline. So in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak – and the raft of restrictive measures being implemented across the city and the state in an attempt to contain it – it seems like a good place to check the prevailing mood.
It doesn’t bode well when, on the 4 train down to Wall Street, a busker with a guitar performs a song featuring the words “coronavirus everywhere you turn”. Other than that, and the presence of a few face masks and latex gloves, everything appears relatively normal.
Continue reading...LOT Polish Airlines has also suspended flights from Poland and Hungary for 10 days
Jet2 planes heading to Spain turned back in mid-air on Saturday as the airline cancelled all flights to the country because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The decision follows a sharp increase in infections in Spain and a rise in the death toll to 120. The government has declared a two-week state of emergency and placed 60,000 people in four towns under mandatory lockdown on Friday.
Continue reading...New Zealand has called off a national remembrance service to mark a year since the attacks on two Christchurch mosques because of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. The event, which was to be held in the city on Sunday, was expected to attract a large crowd of people from across the country and overseas
Continue reading...Japan’s prime minister say country will host the Games ‘without problem, as planned’
Japan is still preparing to host the Olympics, Shinzo Abe has said, despite growing concern about the viability of the summer Games because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Japan’s prime minister and his government have been adamant that the Olympics will go ahead, even as other global sporting events have been put on hold. Speculation about a delay of the July start date has grown since the Donald Trump said organisers should consider a one-year postponement.
Continue reading...Republic of Ireland’s caretaker taoiseach and Northern Ireland’s first minister meet in Armagh
Leo Varadkar and Arlene Foster are meet to discuss a cross-border approach to combatting coronavirus.
With mass gatherings including sporting events and concerts to be banned across the UK from next weekend, pressure was growing on Northern Irish leaders to close schools in line with the move south of the border.
Continue reading...The coronavirus pandemic has pushed countries around the world to take stringent measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus and protect citizens. A muezzin in Kuwait was heard saying 'al-salatu fi buyutikum' or 'pray in your homes' instead of the usual “hayya alas-salah' or 'come to prayer'. Saudi Arabia has banned pilgrimages to the Grand Mosque in Mecca and touching the Ka’bah, the shrine toward which all Muslims face in prayer
Continue reading...All major world religions are limiting large gatherings and physical contact to halt transmission of Covid-19
Events to mark important religious festivals could be cancelled or curtailed in the coming weeks because of the coronavirus crisis.
Next month, most of the world’s major religions have festivals involving large gatherings of people. Easter is on 12 April (a week later for Eastern Orthodox churches); Passover begins on 8 April; Rama Navami, an important Hindu festival, is on 2 April; while the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi is a few days later. The Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins around 23 April.
Continue reading...Concern over large gathering of potential jurors for empanelment sees chief justice announce drastic measure
Courts across the state of Victoria in Australia will immediately suspend all future jury trials in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19. The drastic measure will apply to the county and supreme courts.
Supreme court chief justice Anne Ferguson said all new jury trials would be suspended but that trials in which a jury had already been empanelled would continue.
Continue reading...Disney chief says animated film will provide ‘fun and joy during challenging period’ while company halts production on live-action movies
Walt Disney will fast-track the release of the Frozen sequel to its streaming platform in a bid to spark “fun and joy” during the coronavirus outbreak, while at the same time joining US streaming giant Netflix in shutting down some of its productions.
The company said on Friday that Frozen 2 would be available on its digital streaming platform Disney+ from Sunday in the US, three months earlier than scheduled. The film, released in cinemas last year, is the sequel to its 2013 animated blockbuster.
Continue reading...Neighbours from Naples to Tuscany make harmonies across empty streets to lift spirits and pass the time during quarantine
Italians have been singing from their balconies across the country, in an effort to boost morale during its nationwide lockdown that began this week, due to Covid-19.
Videos of Italian neighbours singing together have been appearing on social media after Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced the restrictions that shut down virtually all daily life, and leftonly grocery stores, banks, and pharmacies open.
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