Some players have used the game to create politically sensitive images and slogans which they share on social media
The Nintendo Switch game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, has been removed from sale on websites in China, after it was used by Hong Kong activists to spread pro-democracy messages.
The popular island-life simulation game disappeared from China’s eBay-equivalent, Taobao, last week.
Continue reading...The people of the city where the first virus was first detected are taking their first cautious steps outside after being confined for three months
Last week the city of Wuhan celebrated the end of its nearly three-month lockdown. Flower beds and trees were planted in parks across from hospitals previously overwhelmed with panicked and sick patients. The streets have been scrubbed clean.
Before midnight last Wednesday, when restrictions barring people from leaving the city were officially lifted, state news outlets sent drones into the sky to film lit-up buildings and bridges. Cars lined up at motorway tollbooths, waiting to leave. Drivers described feeling finally “liberated”. Several housing developments had flags declaring them “virus free”. One said: “Decisive battle, decisive win.”
Continue reading...Spain to let some non-essential staff return to work, but Italians shut in until at least 3 May
The US has become the first country to record more than 2,000 deaths from coronavirus in a single day, as its overall toll surpassed that of Italy, making it the worst-hit country in the world.
White House experts said there were some signs the spread of the disease may be levelling off, but the US now has more than half a million confirmed infections and in the last 24 hours 2,108 people died. Hotspots include New York, Detroit, Louisiana and the capital, Washington DC.
Continue reading...Move is likely to be part of attempt to control the narrative surrounding the pandemic
China is cracking down on publication of academic research about the origins of the novel coronavirus, in what is likely to be part of a wider attempt to control the narrative surrounding the pandemic, documents published online by Chinese universities appear to show.
Two websites for leading Chinese universities appear to have recently published and then removed pages that reference a new policy requiring academic papers dealing with Covid-19 to undergo extra vetting before they are submitted for publication.
Continue reading...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...Notes to global health leaders on 10 and 11 January highlighted possible infection routes
The World Health Organization warned the US and other countries about the risk of human-to-human transmission of Covid-19 as early as 10 January, and urged precautions even though initial Chinese studies at that point had found no clear evidence of that route of infection.
Technical guidance notes seen by the Guardian and briefings by top WHO officials warned of potential human-to-human transmission and made clear that there was a threat of catching the disease through water droplets and contaminated surfaces, based on the experience of earlier coronavirus outbreaks, such as Sars and Mers.
Continue reading...Draft policy released by agriculture ministry cites concern over animal welfare and prevention of disease transmission as factors behind move
The Chinese government has signalled an end to the human consumption of dogs, with the agriculture ministry today releasing a draft policy that would forbid canine meat.
Citing the “progress of human civilisation” as well as growing public concern over animal welfare and prevention of disease transmission from animals to humans, China’s Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs singled out canines as forbidden in a draft “white list” of animals allowed to be raised for meat.
Continue reading...Farms forced to shut down operations as search continues for source of Covid-19 amid uncertainty over new industry rules
Just a few months ago Cheng Yongcai ran a thriving farm that produced 20,000 bamboo rats a year in Qingyuan in northern Guangdong province.
It was an operation that his local government actively encouraged with loans and other support, he says.
Continue reading...Italy’s curve flattening but deaths rise by 610; UK’s PM improves in hospital; virus could push 500m people into poverty
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...In just three months, the coronavirus has turned the world upside down. But how did it play out so quickly? We take a look back to where it all began – from its origins in south east Asia, to its acceleration across Europe and the US. As the infection rate increased and countries went into lockdown, people began to find imaginative and inspiring ways of coping with our new reality
Continue reading...City state reports 142 new infections as other countries eye ways out of lockdown amid economic fears
Fears have resurfaced about the ability of coronavirus to surge again after lockdowns are eased, as Singapore confirmed a sharp rise in new infections.
One of the worst-hit countries when the virus first spread from China in January, Singapore’s strict surveillance and quarantine regime helped slow the outbreak, but recent rises in locally transmitted cases have raised fresh concerns. Singapore reported 142 new infections on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Highly contagious virus fatal to pigs found close to German border, as illness continues to spread in China
An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed on Monday on a farm near the village of Więckowice near Poznań in western Poland, less than 150km (93 miles) from the border with Germany.
African swine fever is a highly contagious virus which is fatal to pigs. It is transmitted directly between animals or through infected meat or animal feed and has also been seen as having the potential to transmit to humans. There is an ongoing outbreak in China that has already already wiped out 40% of pigs in the country.
Related: African swine fever destroying small pig farms, as factory farming booms – report
Continue reading...After 76 days sealed off from the world, the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic began, has opened its doors again. At midnight on Wednesday, authorities allowed residents to leave the city for the first time since 23 January, when 11 million people were put under lockdown to contain the quickly spreading virus
Continue reading...A midnight light show brightened up the sky in Wuhan as the former centre of the coronavirus outbreak celebrated its 'reopening'. The central Chinese city started lifting outbound travel restrictions on Wednesday after almost 11 weeks of lockdown. Across the Yangtze River, skyscrapers and seven bridges radiated with images of health workers, troops, police officers and other key workers
Continue reading...US president accuses World Health Organization of China bias as New York records its highest daily death toll and Wuhan lockdown eases
Donald Trump has criticised the World Health Organization (WHO), and by implication Beijing, saying the global body is “China centric” and “biased” towards the rival superpower.
As Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak, began to return to normal life, Trump said the WHO had “been wrong about a lot of things”, and threatened to put a hold on WHO funding. When asked if that was a good idea during a pandemic, Trump denied saying it, and then said they would “look at it”.
Continue reading...Comments from Kianoush Jahanpour draw reproach from Chinese ambassador
Iran’s health ministry spokesman has backtracked after he described China’s official figures on the coronavirus outbreak as a “joke”.
Kianoush Jahanpour made the remarks at a press conference and a tweet on Sunday, adding that China had given the impression that coronavirus was like influenza but with fewer deaths.
Continue reading...Group of former diplomats and ministers says shifting rules on medical trade could save hundreds of thousands of lives
A group of 24 senior diplomats and defence officials, including four former Nato secretary generals, have urged Donald Trump to save “potentially hundreds of thousands of lives” across the Middle East by easing medical and humanitarian sanctions on Iran.
Related: US ignores calls to suspend Venezuela and Iran sanctions amid coronavirus pandemic
Continue reading...Spain records smallest rate of increase in infections; Trump tells Americans to expect ‘a lot of death’; Global deaths approach 65,000
Here are the key developments of the last few hours:
The country’s health minister has announced that Barbados has recorded its first death from the coronavirus.
The victim is said to be an 81-year-old male who had an underlying medical condition and had travelled to the UK.
Continue reading...People across China have paused for three minutes to remember the patients and medical workers who died in the coronavirus outbreak. Citizens stood still, while cars, trains and ships sounded their horns, and air-raid sirens rang out in memory of the more than 3,000 lives lost. In Wuhan, where the outbreak began, all traffic lights in urban areas turned red for three minutes. The city of 11 million was the hardest hit by the outbreak, recording 2,567 fatalities. This accounts for more than three quarters of China’s coronavirus deaths.
New York sees 3,000 deaths in 30 days; China remembers those who died fighting virus; Trump rejects advice to wear masks. Follow the latest updates
The Municipality of Livorno in Italy has begun printing stamped and numbered food vouchers which can be obtained by submitting a self-certification. The scheme, which began on Saturday, enables those in need to claim 200-400 euros in vouchers for their shopping.
Bermuda has entered two weeks of lockdown, which will see people given slots to shop according to their surnames, Bermuda’s daily newspaper the Royal Gazette is reporting.
Visits to grocery shops and gas stations will be organised alphabetically, with people with surnames from A to K shopping on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and those with names from L to Z on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Sundays will be reserved for elderly people.
Continue reading...