Five people have died and 150 evacuated after blaze at St George hospital in St Petersburg
A fire at a hospital in St Petersburg has killed coronavirus patients who had been attached to ventilators.
A source in Russia’s emergencies ministry source said five patients had died and 150 were evacuated after the blaze broke out early on Tuesday morning on the sixth floor of St George hospital.
Continue reading...Canadian pop-rocker conflates various unproven theories about source of disease in expletive-filled rant on Instagram
Bryan Adams has made an expletive-filled attack on Chinese people over coronavirus, in the week he was due to start a concert residency at the Royal Albert Hall, London, that was cancelled due to the outbreak.
Introducing an acoustic performance of the song Cuts Like a Knife on his Instagram page, the Canadian singer wrote:
Continue reading...Health body says coronavirus restrictions must be eased carefully; Iran to reopens mosques; China reports one new case
The World Health Organization has called on countries to show “extreme vigilance” when loosening Covid-19 restrictions as the top US infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, warned that prematurely reopening the American economy would cause “needless suffering and death”.
The WHO’s emergencies chief, Michael Ryan, has hailed the gradual lifting of coronavirus lockdowns in some countries whose death and infection rates were dropping, as a sign of “hope”, but he cautioned that “extreme vigilance is required”.
Continue reading...Re-runs of famous Japanese cartoon bring broadcast until further notice, in first interruption in 45 years
Production of the world’s longest-running cartoon has been interrupted by the coronavirus, forcing the broadcast of re-runs for the first time in decades.
Sazae-san, a mainstay of the Japanese weekend that first aired in 1969, revolves around a typical Tokyo family consisting of Mrs Sazae, who lives with her parents, husband, son, brother and sister.
Continue reading...Donald Trump's press conference on coronavirus testing ended abruptly after a terse exchange with two female reporters. Asked by CBS's Weijia Jiang about his focus on international comparisons rather than US deaths, Trump snapped: 'Don’t ask me, ask China that question'. After being asked by Jiang, who is Asian-American, why he had directed the remark at her, Trump cut off the CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins as she asked a question and walked away from the podium
Continue reading...There is 'no guarantee' of a Covid-19 vaccine to end lockdown measures, Boris Johnson has admitted. Noting the lack of a vaccine for SARS 18 years on, Johnson said the world may be living with the virus 'for a long time to come'
CEO announces electric carmaker will begin production on Monday after company sues county over Covid-19 restrictions
Elon Musk announced on Twitter that Tesla would resume production at its northern California factory on Monday afternoon, in defiance of a local public health order designed to slow the spread of coronavirus.
“Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules,” the billionaire CEO tweeted. “I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.”
Continue reading...Treasurer says in statement in lieu of the federal budget: ‘There is no money tree. What we borrow today we must repay in the future.’ Follow the latest news live
In what is becoming a common scene, there were long lines of international students waiting for donated meals today.
This footage was shot in Sydney where restaurants in Chinatown are offering free meals to students who have lost jobs and aren’t eligible for jobseeker or jobkeeper.
Quite incredible. A long line of international students in Sydney right now waiting for free food from a restaurant (line goes another 50m around the corner).
International students have been hard hit and aren't eligible for coronavirus stimulus payments. Many rely on free meals pic.twitter.com/eTDtRFU8Lw
Nathan Cleary, the Penrith Panther banned and fined by the NRL for being “untruthful” during the league’s investigation into his social distancing breach, has apologised.
“I’m obviously embarrassed with myself and I’m not happy with what I’ve done,” he told the club’s website. “I just to want to apologise for my actions. My actions were irresponsible, selfish and pretty stupid, to be honest.
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Trump ends the briefing on a very abrupt and sour note.
Asked by CBS White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang why he is so fixated on comparing the US’ testing capability to other countries as opposed to focusing on the lag that still exists here, Trump snapped: “Maybe that’s a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me, ask China that question, okay?”
Trump throws a fit when @kaitlancollins of CNN tries to ask him a question and abruptly ends the press conference pic.twitter.com/58AVZ9CABl
Trump walked out of his own news conference after accusing @weijia of asking a "nasty question" and refusing to take @kaitlancollins's questions after calling on her.
Trump spent Mother’s Day sending conspiratorial tweets about his predecessor. In one tweet he accused Obama of committing the “biggest political crime in American history, by far!” Trump.
Asked to name the crime he is accusing Obama of committing, Trump replied: “Obamagate. it’s been going on for a long time it’s been going on before I even got elected.”
Related: Trump charges Obama with 'biggest political crime in American history'
Continue reading...Human rights groups concerned over expanding the role of the armed forces as the country’s homicide rate reaches new high
Human rights groups in Mexico have expressed disquiet over a presidential decree expanding the role of the armed forces in public security – a reflection of the country’s worsening violence and the failure to properly prepare and equip a police force able to take on powerful criminal organisations.
The decree, published on Monday by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, demonstrates an ongoing dependency on the army and navy for public security work – even though soldiers and marines have been frequently accused of human rights violations.
Continue reading...Labour leader criticises PM as government struggles to answer barrage of questions
Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of failing to give the public “clear directions” on the way through the coronavirus crisis on Monday, as the government struggled to answer a barrage of questions about its new advice to “stay alert”.
Boris Johnson was challenged by the Labour leader, MPs and members of the public over ambiguities and contradictions in the government’s new guidelines.
Continue reading...Authorities in Nogales, Sonora, are hoping to reduce chances of bringing the virus over from Arizona, one of the states most affected
Fears of foreigners bringing infectious disease into the country. Enhanced border checkpoints. And the use of disinfectant spray to sanitize human beings.
These aren’t notes from one of Donald Trump’s freewheeling press conferences. The United States’ troubled response to the coronavirus pandemic is such that the Mexican border city of Nogales, Sonora, has set up “sanitizing tunnels” to disinfect people leaving the US through Nogales, Arizona.
Continue reading...As state prepares to reopen, governor says new cases on par with mid-March – but death rate may have been far higher than believed
As parts of New York prepared to reopen on Friday, the governor said new infections had fallen to the same rate as 19 March, the date he said the state “went into the abyss”.
Related: No quarantine for Mike Pence despite rash of Covid-19 cases in White House
Continue reading...Backseat president announces easing of lockdown on day of record high infection numbers
A day of record high coronavirus infection numbers is an odd time to announce a route out of lockdown, but that is what Vladimir Putin did on Monday as he announced that the “non-working days” imposed by the Kremlin at the end of March would come to an end from Tuesday.
“We have a long and difficult process ahead of us with no room for mistakes,” said Putin by video link from his residence outside Moscow on a day when the country registered more than 11,000 new infections. Russia now has the second fastest rate of infections in the world after the US. The prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, is among those in hospital with the virus.
Continue reading...The prime minister's address to the nation on Sunday about new coronavirus lockdown measures for England was met with confusion by some. On Monday, speaking in the House of Commons, Johnson delivered a 60-page document clarifying the rules put in place to ease the country out of lockdown and limit the damage caused by Covid-19. Guardian political correspondent Kate Proctor is here to explain what the new rules are
Vulnerable people from Greek refugee camps reunited with close family at Heathrow
Some 47 highly vulnerable migrants have arrived in the UK on an “unprecedented” family reunion flight from Greece.
British refugees travelled to Heathrow to greet nephews, brothers, husbands and wives after Monday’s flight brought people from Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan to join close family in the UK. The reunion was the result of two months of intense lobbying by the campaign group Safe Passage and the British peer Alf Dubs.
Continue reading...We are told to ‘stay alert’, but if alertness could conquer this virus, we would all be fine. The message is about shifting responsibility away from the government and on to the public
Someone won Sunday night’s Numberwang, but it wasn’t any of us. What we can do, and who we can do it with, has been turned into some sort of fake algebra with a red-and-blue PowerPoint hump. Boris Johnson, all clenched fists and lockdown hairdo, was resolute about, er, stuff. Ours is not to reason why, his is not to understand how the other half lives.
He talked of a world of golf, tennis, garden centres and people who can go to work in their own cars or on their Bromptons. England in repose. Where, apparently, no one has to think about childcare. The reality is that it is the construction workers, bus drivers and security guards (mostly middle-aged men) who are dying of Covid-19 at an alarming rate, as well as NHS staff and carers. These people are called low-skilled. Many of them are his voters. He risks losing them, so must frame the back-to-work instruction as a matter of personal choice. For now.
Continue reading...Billionaire puts more than fifth of stake up for sale to help prop up airline and rest of group
Sir Richard Branson is to sell $500m (£405m) in Virgin Galactic shares in order to prop up his airline and leisure interests, which have been ravaged by the coronavirus crisis.
In a statement to the New York Stock Exchange, Branson’s Virgin Group said it intended to sell 25m shares via a series of transactions, prompting a 5% fall in the share price of Virgin Galactic during pre-market trading.
Continue reading...Guardian writers report on how various European countries have managed the process
Boris Johnson has been heavily criticised for failing to show Britain a clear route out of lockdown. Easing a nation out of two months of confinement is a complicated business, and some degree of confusion is almost inevitable. Here, Guardian correspondents look at how other European leaders have managed the process.
Spain’s lockdown exit strategy – known formally as the Plan for the Transition Towards the New Normality – was outlined by the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, during a televised press conference on the evening of 28 April. Sánchez said the country’s four-phase de-escalation initiative would be “gradual and asymmetric”, adding that the first stage – dubbed phase 0 – would come into effect on 4 May.
Continue reading...The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the world
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