A hotel in south-eastern China that was being used as a quarantine centre for people arriving from coronavirus-hit regions has collapsed, trapping dozens, according to the local government
Continue reading...Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak
Taipei seems to have the virus in hand. Now I worry about returning to the UK
After the Sars outbreak on the island state in 2003, when 150,000 were quarantined, Taiwan vowed to be better prepared next time
As I stepped into a cosy restaurant in Taipei, the waiter signalled for me to stop, then ran at me, gun in hand. He held it near my forehead, then – click – my temperature was checked. He look relieved as he ushered me to a corner table.
Taiwan’s capital (population 2.7 million) is on high alert. Temperature checks, face masks and hand sanitisers are the new normal as the city, and the island state, unifies in its battle against contagion.
Continue reading...Facebook will ban certain ads to prevent efforts to exploit coronavirus fears
Tech company will temporarily ban ads for medical face masks on the social network and Facebook marketplace
Facebook is temporarily banning advertisements for medical face masks as part of an effort to prevent use of its social media platform to exploit people’s concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.
Related: Coronavirus: US deaths rise to 19 as New York declares state of emergency
Continue reading...Egypt announces 33 new Covid-19 cases on cruise ship
Prime minister claims ‘Egypt is safe and the situation is under control’, though 45 of the ship’s passengers are now infected
Egypt has announced 33 new cases of Covid-19 as the Arab world’s most populous nation works to contain both the virus and public concern.
Thirty-three additional infected passengers were found onboard a cruise ship that had travelled between the southern Egyptian cities of Aswan and Luxor. Twelve cases on the same ship were announced yesterday, bringing the number of infections onboard so far to 45.
Continue reading...Italy set to quarantine whole of Lombardy due to coronavirus
Government’s draft decree would impose fines on anyone caught entering or leaving northern region
The Italian government is to lockdown the northern region of Lombardy, as it battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus. A draft decree would extend the quarantined areas, so-called “red-zones”, ordering people not to enter or leave the region.
The country is grappling to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of Covid-19, which has claimed 233 lives and infected a total of 5,883 people.
Continue reading...‘It has arrived’: Italian Democratic party leader announces he has coronavirus – video
The governor of Italy's Lazio region is the latest official to test positive for coronavirus in the country. Nicola Zingaretti, who is also head of the Democratic party, one of the national ruling parties, announced his diagnosis on Facebook on Saturday. At least three government prefects – in Bergamo, Brescia and Matera – have tested positive for the virus, along with three Milan prosecutors, according to reports
- Leader of Italian Democratic party has coronavirus
- Coronavirus live updates: passengers on Grand Princess to be tested by US authorities
‘I like the numbers being where they are’: Trump remarks on Grand Princess passengers – video
The US president has said he would rather have people remain onboard a cruise ship, which was denied entry to San Francisco over coronavirus concerns.
Trump conceded on Friday that he would let others decide whether to allow the passengers to leave the Grand Princess, where 35 people have reported flu-like symptoms. Trump appeared to explicitly acknowledge his political concerns about the outbreak, saying: 'I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault'
Continue reading...Coronavirus live updates: Australia traces patients treated by sick doctor as US cruise ship cases rise
Two victims were in their 70s and had travelled overseas, say state authorities, as cruise ship off San Francisco reports 21 cases and Hong Kong advises against non-urgent travel
- Cases pass 100,000 globally as Iran threatens force to restrict spread
- Melbourne doctor with coronavirus symptoms continued seeing patients
- Coronavirus quarantine plans ignite row between South Korea and Japan
- ‘More scary than coronavirus’: South Korea alerts expose private lives
- Essential guide: can I catch it on public transport, and how sick will I get?
- Coronavirus: nine reasons to be reassured
An Iranian MP has died from coronavirus, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday, in an another sign the disease is spreading within state institutions.
Iran is one of the countries outside China most affected by the epidemic. As of Friday, the country had reported 4,747 infections.
The MP who died on Friday is Fatemeh Rahbar, a conservative lawmaker from Tehran, according to Tasnim. It did not say if she was included in the country’s official toll of 124 deaths from the virus, given on Friday.
On 2 March, Tasnim reported the death of Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a member of the Expediency Council, intended to resolve disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council, a governmental body that vets electoral candidates, among other duties.
Iran’s deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, and another member of parliament, Mahmoud Sadeghi, have also said they have contracted the virus.
Government ministers are expected to advise elderly people in the UK next week to visit relatives now before “social distancing” policies are introduced.
British pensioners could be warned to stay at home and will likely be told to avoid crowded areas, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Coronavirus: nine reasons to be reassured
Yes, Covid-19 is serious, but context is key and the world is well placed to deal with it
The coronavirus epidemic plainly poses an exceptionally serious global problem: in a few short weeks, it has spread from China to more than 80 countries, infecting more than 100,000 people so far and causing more than 3,400 deaths.
But as we are hit with minute-by-minute updates from around the world, experiencing the advance of Covid-19 in real time – news alerts, huge headlines, social media hysteria – there’s a risk that we might lose some essential context.
Continue reading...‘It isn’t Mad Max’: Police warning after shoppers brawl over toilet paper in Sydney
Police called to a western Sydney supermarket on Saturday over reports of a physical altercation
NSW police had to be called to a western Sydney supermarket on Saturday morning after a fight broke out among three women over toilet paper.
On Saturday afternoon NSW police asked the women involved to come forward, and warned shoppers to behave themselves.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: Trump hurls insults as 21 cases confirmed on cruise ship
- President attacks CNN and Democrats at CDC event
- Universities cancel classes in Washington state
Donald Trump used a freewheeling press conference on Friday, intended to provide updates on the coronavirus, as an opportunity to attack Democrats, praise his own intelligence, lash out at CNN and spread false and misleading information about the status of the outbreak, as a slew of new cases were confirmed aboard a cruise ship off the California coast.
Speaking at the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) main campus in Atlanta, Georgia, while wearing his red “Keep America Great” re-election campaign hat, the president went on a rant criticizing Washington state’s governor, Jay Inslee, as a “snake” and saying he disagreed with his vice-president’s complimentary remarks toward the Democrat. Inslee, who ran for president last year, is overseeing the response to the most serious outbreak in the US.
Continue reading...Trump campaign sues CNN for ‘false’ statements about Russia and 2020 election – live
- Campaign files libel lawsuit seeking ‘millions of dollars’
- Sanders reiterates that he believes his rival Biden can beat Trump
- Support the Guardian’s independent journalism. Make a contribution
Oof, that’s a gut-punch to the Trump campaign’s efforts to sue media outlets it doesn’t like over some articles......but not others....
Yet another Trump lawsuit against a news organization, but still no action against the NYT for story that accused Trump in so many words of the crime of tax fraud. That’s beginning to look like a confession, isn’t it? https://t.co/RJep7HRhIC
Mr. Trump did not offer an outright denial of the facts in the report, such as that the money he made during his decades in real estate came from tax schemes of dubious legality, the existence of records of deception in documenting the family’s financial assets, and that the beginning of the president’s so-called self-made fortune dates back to his toddler years when, by the time he was 3 years old, Mr. Trump earned $200,000 a year in today’s dollars from his father.
CNN’s media expert Brian Stelter says libel lawsuits like the one Donald Trump’s re-election campaign just filed against CNN, and prior suits vs the New York Times and the Washington Post won’t succeed and are just a political strategy.
Trump‘s war on the media enters the “performative lawsuit” phase—just in time for 2020. https://t.co/xmrNTzefJA
It’s the latest of a series of libel suits by the campaign aimed at media outlets’ opinion articles on issues linked to Russia. Over the last few weeks, the campaign has also sued the New York Times and the Washington Post, alleging similar motives.
We learned four valuable lessons from Ebola. They can help us fight the coronavirus | Chris Withington
Working in the poorest countries in the world, I saw firsthand that dysfunctional health systems can’t contain an epidemic
The world is on the brink of a global pandemic, and it’s the poorest countries with the weakest health systems that will likely be hit the worst.
I was part of the Ebola response in West Africa. We learned important lessons during that crisis that can help us fight the spread of coronavirus here and overseas.
Continue reading...British man who caught Covid-19 in Wuhan says he was ‘unable to breathe’ – video
British man Connor Reed caught Covid-19 while working in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. The 25-year-old said the disease started with a common cold before progressing to pneumonia, where it got so bad he was waking up at night unable to breathe. He warned people living in the UK who might have symptoms to get checked out and to try to stay at home as much as possible
- Coronavirus latest updates: all countries must make containing outbreak 'highest priority', says WHO
- Coronavirus facts: what's the mortality rate and is there a cure?
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should I see a doctor?
Sunak to unveil budget aimed at helping firms deal with coronavirus
Chancellor mulling measures including tax holidays and support when staff self-isolate
Rishi Sunak is poised to announce a package of emergency measures to support businesses hit by the knock-on effects of the coronavirus crisis in his first budget on Wednesday.
The chancellor is considering short-term tax holidays for affected businesses, and taxpayer support for small businesses whose employees self-isolate as the outbreak escalates, the Guardian understands.
Continue reading...Coronavirus latest: at a glance
A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak on Friday include:
Continue reading...Can my dog or cat spread coronavirus? – video explainer
The number of people worldwide infected with the new coronavirus has exceeded 100,000 and the disease is continuing to spread, but what role do pets - if any - have in the outbreak?
After a dog in Hong Kong reportedly tested ‘weak positive’ for coronavirus, causing some alarm among pet owners, the Guardian’s Helen Davidson answers some of the most pressing questions surrounding domestic animals and coronavirus
- Wuhan’s cat rescuer: the man saving pets abandoned during coronavirus outbreak – video
- Coronavirus: latest developments
‘It’s all fake!’: Chinese official heckled by residents on visit to Wuhan – video
A top Chinese official has been heckled by residents as she inspected the work of a neighbourhood committee tasked with taking care of quarantined residents. Vice-premier Sun Chunlan toured a residential community in the Qingshan district of Wuhan on Thursday while residents appeared to shout 'fake, fake' as well as 'it's all fake' and 'we protest' from their apartment windows. Since 12 February, all residential compounds in Wuhan have been put under lockdown, barring most residents from leaving their homes.
Continue reading...Before and after: coronavirus empties world’s busiest spaces
Aerial images reveal impact of outbreak on famous holy sites and capital cities
Empty public squares, a highway with no cars on it and deserted holy sites – a series of striking satellite images have revealed the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on some of the world’s busiest spaces.
The aerial photographs, released by Colorado-based space technology firm Maxar, show normally bustling spots from Mecca to Beijing thinned of people.
Continue reading...Inside the cruise ship that became a coronavirus breeding ground
As contagion swept through the Diamond Princess, its crew had to carry on working. Here, they recall the climate of chaos and fear that prevailed during the ship’s two-week quarantine
Christian Santos* remembers staying awake at night, anxiously listening to the sound of his colleague coughing. They were sleeping below deck, in one of the small rooms shared by workers on board the stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship.
He had spent the previous two weeks serving guests who were confined to their rooms, and watching the miserable failure of disease-control measures on the vessel. Now he knew the coronavirus, which had already transmitted to hundreds of people onboard, had almost certainly entered his own cabin.
Continue reading...