Test results suggesting people in South Korea had been reinfected after recovering from Covid-19 were actually false positives caused by dead lung cells, the World Health Organization's technical lead, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, has told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show
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North and South Korea exchange gunfire across DMZ at border
Seoul says military responded with shots after North Korean soldiers fired towards the South
North and South Korea exchanged gunfire over the demilitarised zone between the two nations, South Korean military officials have said.
The exchange began when North Korean soldiers shot at a South Korean guard post at 7.41 am local time on Sunday. The South Korean military shot back twice, Seoul’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement.
Continue reading...Shots fired from North Korea at guard post across border in DMZ, says South
Joint chiefs of staff says no one was injured and that South responded with two shots and a warning broadcast
Multiple gunshots have been fired from North Korea towards a South Korean guard post in the demilitarised zone that separates the two countries, military chiefs in the South reported.
South Korea responded by firing two shots towards North Korea, the South’s joint chiefs of staff said on Sunday. No injuries were reported.
Continue reading...Danes and Czechs say easing lockdowns has produced no Covid-19 surge
Encouraging signs from EU states who acted early, as South Korea reports no new cases
Denmark and the Czech Republic have said partially easing their lockdowns has not led to a surge in new coronavirus infections, as the WHO continued to urge extreme caution and Germany relaxed some restrictions but extended others.
As EU governments grappled with the complex and conflicting imperatives of easing the lockdowns crippling their economies while avoiding a disastrous second wave of infections, meanwhile, South Korea reported no new cases for the first time.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un is ‘alive and well’, says South Korea’s security adviser
Moon Chung-in quashes health rumours, saying North Korean leader has been in Wonsan – a resort town in the country’s east – since 13 April
South Korea has said that Kim Jong-un, is “alive and well”, downplaying rumours that that the North Korean leader was seriously ill after undergoing heart surgery.
“Our government position is firm,” Moon Chung-in, a special adviser on national security to the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday. “Kim Jong-un is alive and well.”
Continue reading...Why do female leaders seem to be more successful at managing the coronavirus crisis?
Plenty of countries with male leaders have also done well. But few with female leaders have done badly
On 1 April, the prime minister of Sint Maarten addressed her nation’s 41,500 people. Coronavirus cases were rising, and Silveria Jacobs knew the small island country, which welcomes 500,000 tourists a year, was at great risk: it had two ICU beds.
Jacobs did not want to impose a strict lockdown, but she did want physical distancing observed. So she spelled it out: “Simply. Stop. Moving,” she said. “If you don’t have the bread you like in your house, eat crackers. Eat cereal. Eat oats. Eat … sardines.”
Continue reading...Why South Korea’s coronavirus death toll is comparatively low – video explainer
On 29 February, South Korea reported a peak of 909 new Covid-19 cases and was suffering one of the worst outbreaks outside of China. But this week, the government announced a single-digit number of new cases for the first time in almost two months. As of 22 April, there were 238 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in South Korea.
Experts say that the country is one of few to succeed in 'flattening the curve' despite never having a formal lockdown in place. And with life slowly beginning to return to something like normality, Seoul-based journalist Nemo Kim has been looking at what lessons can be learned
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: WHO says nothing was hidden from US on Covid-19
Spain proposes €1.5tn EU Covid-19 fund; US blocks pro-WHO statement by G20; Trump backs anti-lockdown protesters; deaths in Italy and Spain fall
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Italy reported 454 new deaths from coronavirus on Monday, 21 more than on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 24,114.
For the first time, the number of people who are currently infected fell by 20 to 108,237.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that he understood why some people are protesting the closing down of businesses in response to the coronavirus but argued relaxing restrictions needed to be done in a way that prevented further outbreaks.
“You don’t need protests to convince anyone in this country that we have get back to work and we have to get the economy going and we have to get out of our homes. Nobody,” Cuomo told a briefing.
South Korean businessman convicted of rape gets suspended sentence
Ex-chair of DB Group Kim Jun-ki ‘forgot his responsibilities’, says Seoul court
The former head of a South Korean conglomerate who was convicted of raping his maid and sexually assaulting a secretary has been given a suspended sentence.
Kim Jun-ki, the 75-year-old former chair of DB Group, which has activities in finance and steel, repeatedly violated the two women, the Seoul central district court found.
Continue reading...South Korea’s ruling party wins election landslide amid coronavirus outbreak
Voters reward Moon Jae-in for response to pandemic with biggest majority since transition to democracy in 1987
South Korea’s ruling party has won a landslide victory in national assembly elections, in what is being seen as an endorsement of President Moon Jae-in’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Moon’s left-leaning Democratic party and its smaller affiliate won 180 seats in the 300-seat assembly – the biggest majority in the national assembly by any party since South Korea’s transition to democracy in 1987 – according to the Yonhap news agency. The conservative opposition United Future party and its smaller sister party won 103 seats.
Continue reading...South Korea’s first feminist party holds out hope of election miracle
Formation of the Women’s party comes after campaigns to end spy cam porn and rebellions against strict beauty standards in the conservative nation
Two years year after South Korea became the centre of Asia’s #MeToo movement, the country’s first feminist party is hoping to keep women’s issues on the political agenda by winning seats in Wednesday’s national assembly elections.
In a campaign dominated by the government’s response to the coronavirus epidemic, the newly formed Women’s party has warned that South Korea’s poor record on sexual discrimination and violence risked being overlooked.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un’s sister returns to key role in North Korean reshuffle
Kim Yo-jong reinstated to position she lost last year after collapse of US summit
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful younger sister has been reinstated to a key decision-making body, state media have reported, marking her rise in the isolated nation.
Long one of her brother’s closest advisers, Kim Yo-jong was reappointed an alternate member of the political bureau of the central committee in a reshuffle of top officials on Saturday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: who will be winners and losers in new world order?
Are state responses to the virus shifting the balance of power between China and the west?
Andrà tutto bene, the Italians have taught us to think, but in truth, will everything be better the day after? It may seem premature, in the midst of what Emmanuel Macron has described as “a war against an invisible enemy”, to consider the political and economic consequences of a distant peace. Few attempt a definitive review of a play after the first three scenes.
Yet world leaders, diplomats and geopolitical analysts know they are living through epoch-making times and have one eye on the daily combat, the other on what this crisis will bequeath the world. Competing ideologies, power blocs, leaders and systems of social cohesion are being stress-tested in the court of world opinion.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: confirmed global cases pass 1.5m as Boris Johnson leaves intensive care
Italy’s curve flattening but deaths rise by 610; UK’s PM improves in hospital; virus could push 500m people into poverty
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The UK’s housing secretary Robert Jenrick has responded on Twitter to The Guardian’s story about him visiting his parents.
For clarity - my parents asked me to deliver some essentials - including medicines.
They are both self-isolating due to age and my father's medical condition and I respected social distancing rules.https://t.co/XlRujT8S5Y
Egypt reported 139 new cases of coronavirus, bringing its total since the start of the outbreak to 1,699, according to a health ministry statement.
The Arab world’s most populous country also recorded 15 new deaths, raising the total number to 118.
Continue reading...Drive-in church lets South Koreans congregate safely – video
Christians at a church in South Korea are taking part in 'drive-in' services to comply with the country's strict social-distancing rules. While most services have been taking place online, the Seoul City Church decided to also hold a drive-in.
South Korea has largely managed to its epidemic under control, but outbreaks still occur in churches, hospitals and nursing homes
Continue reading...South Korea bars entry to foreign nationals who refuse to self-isolate
Eight people from six countries deported after failing to comply with coronavirus rules
South Korea has denied entry to eight foreign nationals after they refused to comply with strict quarantine requirements introduced this week to help the country tackle a rise in coronavirus infections, as anger mounts over visitors who have been caught breaking self-isolation rules.
The visitors, from six countries, were deported after they refused to self-isolate for two weeks, the justice ministry said. Media reports said the passengers had been informed of the rules before they boarded their flights.
Continue reading...Coronavirus testing: how some countries got ahead of the rest
Germany was quick to see the threat while South Korea took an aggressive approach
Countries have approached coronavirus testing in different ways, and in some places there was far earlier recognition than in the UK of the need to develop tests and kits and to have sufficient numbers stockpiled. Here is how some countries got ahead of the curve.
Continue reading...North Korea fires two missiles as Seoul condemns ‘inappropriate’ timing
Latest in flurry of launches draws particular criticism amid coronavirus pandemic
North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the ocean off its east coast on Sunday, the latest in an unprecedented flurry of launches that South Korea decried as “inappropriate” amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
Two “short-range projectiles” were launched from the coastal Wonsan area and flew 230km (143 miles) at a maximum altitude of 30km (19 miles), South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said.
Continue reading...South Korea’s booming drive-ins – in pictures
Box office numbers for drive-in cinemas in Seoul, South Korea, are on the rise as people find a way to avoid crowds during the coronavirus outbreak
Continue reading...North Korea fires projectiles into sea for third time in a month
Suspected short-range missile launches come as Pyongyang announces legislature to meet in April amid coronavirus pandemic
North Korea fired two projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, South Korea’s military reported.
The launch on Saturday follows two earlier this month, when North Korea fired short-range missiles and multiple projectiles, according to South Korea’s military, drawing US and Chinese appeals for Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programmes.
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