E3: Italy records lowest daily increase in Covid-19 deaths in a week – as it happened
German and Italian shutdowns extended; known global cases pass 900,000; record daily fatalities in UK. This blog is now closed
We’re closing this blog now. Follow me to the link below, where we’ll be bringing you rolling coverage of the pandemic, as confirmed cases worldwide near the one million mark:
Another iconic New York City landmark is being converted into a temporary hospital to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, joining Central Park.
The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home to the US Open, will relieve some of the pressure on one of the state’s hardest hit hospitals, Elmhurst in Queens.
Trump says the US will evacuate Canadian and British citizens from the stranded Zaandam cruise ship.
Here Trump is on the Canadian citizens:
CANADA: "We're taking the Canadians off, and giving them to Canadian authorities, and they're going to take them back home," Trump says of the Canadians stuck on a cruise ship that is set to dock in Florida.
The White House briefing is over now. In jollier news, Country music icon Dolly Parton is making a $1 million donation to help fund coronavirus research, as well as taking time out every week to read children’s books online to kids everywhere.
The “9 to 5” singer, actress and philanthropist tweeted Wednesday that she’s donating the $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee for coronavirus research.
Additionally, she’s working with her charity, The Imagination Library, to read a children’s book on YouTube every Thursday at 7 p.m. EST for 10 weeks. The Imagination Library provides children free books by mail every month and the program is available in all 50 states and five countries.
Thank you to the first responders, servicemen and servicewomen, and healthcare professionals all around the world ❤️ pic.twitter.com/T8EzhrdC31
A reporter asks about domestic violence concerns.
“Mexican violence?” Trump asks.
Trump is asking under which conditions he would consider suspending sanctions against Iran, which has the seventh-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world.
“They’re proud people.. they’re having a hard time picking up the phone? They’re having a hard time setting up the meeting?”
Trump is being asked about religious services - should pastors be holding services in the middle of this pandemic? The reporter references the Florida pastor who held services over the weekend with several hundred people.
“My greatest disappointment is that churches can’t meet in this time of need...” he doesn’t answer the question but says “you have to be very careful.”
US Vice President Mike Pence is speaking now – Trump has asked him to respond to a question regarding the government’s decision not to reopen the Obamacare health exchanges – saying it has been a priority of Trump’s to ensure no American pays healthcare costs related to coronavirus.
Pence is now speaking about how “inspiring” it has been to see American businesses, including private health insurance executives, step up to handle the crisis.
You can watch the White House press briefing live here:
Trump says he’s considering ending domestic flights between hotspots. “That is a calculation that we’re looking at right now.”
Fact check: Florida cases
Asked why the federal government hasn’t declared a national shelter-in-place order, leaving it instead to governors, Trump said it was about flexibility – not every state is in the same situation, so responses should be flexible.
Staying with the White House press briefing for now, Trump said that the federal stockpile of personal protective equipment is nearly empty. “It is,” he said. “Because we’re sending it directly to hospitals.”
Earlier, CNN reported that the “Strategic National Stockpile is deploying the last round of shipments in its inventory, depleting the bulk of its protective gear.”
Hi, Helen Sullivan with you now, picking up the baton from my colleague Kevin Rawlinson.
Trump is addressing the pandemic. “Nobody could’ve known a thing like this would happen,” he said.
In fact, the US intelligence community, public health experts and officials in Trump’s own administration had warned for years that the country was at risk from a pandemic, including specific warnings about a coronavirus outbreak.
In Washington DC, the White House’s coronavirus briefing has begun with an overview of the administration’s new “enhanced counter-narcotics operations”. According to the US president Donald Trump, the forces fighting drug traffickers will also have equipment to protect them from contracting coronavirus.
“This is a particularly important time for this operation to begin,” said the US defence secretary, Mark Esper. According to Esper, as other countries work to protect their populations from the coronavirus threat, they’re getting lax on drug traffickers.
On 11 March, the day before Boris Johnson told the UK the outbreak could no longer be contained and that testing for Covid-19 would stop except for the seriously ill in hospital, the head of No 10’s “nudge unit” gave a brief interview to the BBC.
At the time it was barely noticed – it was budget day, after all. With hindsight, it seems astonishing. Dr David Halpern said:
There’s going to be a point, assuming the epidemic flows and grows as it will do, where you want to cocoon, to protect those at-risk groups so they don’t catch the disease. By the time they come out of their cocooning, herd immunity has been achieved in the rest of the population.
Related: 'Absolutely wrong': how UK's coronavirus test strategy unravelled
The family of a British man who died on board the coronavirus-stricken Zaandam cruise ship are appealing to the US president Donald Trump to allow the ship to dock.
John Carter died on 22 March after falling unwell; one of four people to have died on the ship. The Zaandam, which is carrying more than 200 British nationals, is embroiled in a bitter dispute over plans to disembark passengers in the US.
As a family, we send a plea to Donald Trump and the Florida Authorities to authorise the docking of the MS Zaandam and MS Rotterdam cruise liners in Fort Lauderdale. It is imperative that the passengers and crew receive the urgent assistance that they so desperately need.
His wife remains on the Zaandam currently. She has been isolated on her own since his death in the cabin that she shared with John. She has only minimal contact with her family as her mobile phone is no longer working. She is struggling to eat the limited meals and is feeling unwell. She is obviously distressed and extremely frightened.
We’re getting an early look at Thursday morning’s British papers. The front pages, including those of the normally pro-Conservative outlets, make somewhat brutal reading for the Tory government:
TELEGRAPH: Questions without answers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/mvzlQ1NszE
DAILY MAIL: 550,000 NHS staff only 2000 tested #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/YkuATFgYK9
THE TIMES: Virus testing plans in chaos #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/aFwreRVekB
GUARDIAN: Virus patients more likely to die may have ventilators taken away #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/x6UVY0yWEe
MIRROR: Shambles #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/O19O58Eyt3
FT: Jobless claims rocket by 1m as virus delivers shock to economy #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/ANu9JyxAAE
I: NHS frontline staff let down on testing #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/PLLt2gOo5O
METRO: Sublime to the ridiculous #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/8a7q3ILlF8
INDEPENDENT DIGITAL: 125,000 NHS staff isolating. Still just 2000 tested. Why? #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/zd5bTrvw7n
EXPRESS. We bailed you out now do YOUR duty #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/5eYS4pMx7N
Stable coronavirus patients could be taken off ventilators in favour of saving those more likely to survive, Denis Campbell, Alexandra Topping and Caelainn Barr write.
The news emerged as another sharp rise in deaths leaves the UK braced for the outbreak to reach up to 1,000 deaths a day by the end of the week.
Related: Virus patients more likely to die may have ventilators taken away
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said the decision to put off Cop26 talks was sad, but necessary:
A disappointing decision, but absolutely the right one as we all focus on the fight against #coronavirus. We look forward to welcoming the world to Glasgow in 2021 #COP26 https://t.co/EzykO71TXt
Responding to the news of the Cop26 postponement, Oxfam GB’s chief executive Danny Sriskandarajah has said:
This pause is understandable in light of efforts to stop the pandemic we all now face. But this should not mean pausing our vital efforts to respond to a climate crisis that is already threatening lives and pushing millions of people deeper into hunger and poverty.
The UK, as host of the summit, must keep global momentum going and cannot miss the opportunity to commit to both a just recovery and a just transition to a greener economy.
All Israelis should wear face masks while in public as a precaution against the coronavirus, and upcoming Jewish, Muslim and Christian holidays should be marked only with immediate family, its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
In televised remarks, Netanyahu also announced curbs on movement around an ultra-Orthodox Jewish town that has experienced a disproportionately large outbreak.
The Netherlands is proposing establishing a fund for the worst-hit nations and has asked other countries in the EU to contribute, its finance minister Wopke Hoekstra has said.
The Netherlands was criticised by southern European countries who accused it of lacking solidarity in its response to the coronavirus. Hoekstra told the Reuters news agency:
What we are proposing is a healthcare emergency fund to which the Netherlands would make a very substantial contribution,.
It would be roughly a billion euros and that would be a gift as a sign of solidarity intended for countries dealing with the coronavirus.
The UN’s climate change chief, Patricia Espinosa, called Covid-19 the “most urgent threat facing humanity”, adding:
But we cannot forget that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity over the long term.
Soon, economies will restart. This is a chance for nations to recover better, to include the most vulnerable in those plans, and a chance to shape the 21st century economy in ways that are clean, green, healthy, just, safe and more resilient.
Key UN climate talks that were due to take place in Glasgow in November have been postponed until 2021, it has been announced. Announcing the postponement of Cop26, its president-designate and the UK’s business secretary, Alok Sharma, said:
The world is currently facing an unprecedented global challenge and countries are rightly focusing their efforts on saving lives and fighting Covid-19. That is why we have decided to reschedule Cop26.
We will continue working tirelessly with our partners to deliver the ambition needed to tackle the climate crisis and I look forward to agreeing a new date for the conference.
A retired hospital medical director has become the latest doctor to die from coronavirus in the UK.
Dr Alfa Saadu, 68, was volunteering at the Queen’s Victoria memorial hospital, in Welwyn, Hertfordshire – one of the counties worst hit by the virus – when he became ill. His son Dani confirmed that his father had died after a two-week battle with the disease.
Related: Retired hospital medical director latest to die from Covid-19 in UK
We reported earlier that 950,000 people in the UK have successfully applied for universal credit in a little more than two weeks – 850,000 more than would normally be expected in a fortnight.
Now, the main opposition party has called on the government to make the process more efficient. The shadow work and pensions secretary, Labour’s Margaret Greenwood, has said:
The number of people now trying to claim universal credit is truly shocking. The government must wake up and take action, not leave people waiting days to verify their identity and five weeks to get the support they need.
Advances are not the answer to the five-week wait, they are loans that have to be paid back, and nobody knows how long this crisis will last for.
Dozens of Britons who were on a quarantined Tui cruise ship have returned to the UK, the country’s foreign secretary says.
International cooperation during #COVID19 is vital. After close work between , & @TUIUK 46 Britons from Marella Explorer 2 landed in UK tonight after helped 141 Mexicans return home. Spoke to @M_Ebrard to thank him & discuss importance of keeping air routes open
The Scottish parliament has voted to ban the practice of moor burning in preparation for grouse shooting during the lockdown, after Scottish Greens said there “cannot be business as usual for the lairds and lockdown for the rest of us”.
Scottish Green MSP Andy Wightman witnesses had tweeted pictures of the practice continuing throughout Scotland, even after landowners were told to stop by Scottish Land and Estates.
It is absurd that while the country is told to stay at home, with sporting and cultural events cancelled and businesses compelled to close, some landowners have proceeded to inflict environmental damage on their land in the expectation that a privileged few will still be able to go and shoot birds for a hobby
Related: UK landowners told to stop burning moorland after Yorkshire blaze
International Monetary Fund officials say the pandemic is putting major strains on emerging market economies, but they are confident the Fund has sufficient resources to meet their needs.
The fund is “quite a bit away” from exhausting its $1tn (£800bn) in total lending capacity and is working to identify new sources of funding and liquidity for member countries.
Here’s a little more detail on the latest figures provided by Salomon:
More than 4,000 people have now died in France, local authorities say; making it the fourth country to pass the threshold, following Italy, Spain and the United States.
After speeding up the previous two days, the rate of increase of deaths has decelerated, which is now in its third week of lockdown to try to slow the spread of the virus.
There have been 570 deaths in retirement/old people's/care homes in the Grand Est region of eastern France alone. This is in addition to the death toll in hospitals. https://t.co/atdq8fwSfs
Staying in the UK, a temporary morgue is being built in east London.
Building work is under way on Wanstead Flats in the Manor Park area of the London Borough of Newham. The site is owned by the City of London Corporation and is close to the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium. The borough’s mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, said:
The facility will act as a holding point before a respectful and dignified cremation or burial can take place to send a loved one on their final journey. Sadly relatives will not be able to visit the site.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence is calling up about 3,000 reservists to help with its pandemic response. That brings the number of armed forces personnel helping manage the crisis to about 23,000.
They will be needed to help with medical and logistical support for the NHS and to act as liaison officers, among other things.
Our reservists are a truly remarkable group of people; each with their own skills and experience from their civilian careers beyond the armed forces.
At times like these, to be able to draw on that pool of talent and expertise is invaluable. I know that our reservists will answer the nation’s call with real enthusiasm and will play a key part in our response to Covid-19.
All New York City playgrounds are being closed down on the orders of the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, who is also urging police to become more aggressive in enforcing physical distancing
Young people must get this message, and they still have not gotten the message, you still see too many situations with too much density by young people.
How reckless and irresponsible and selfish for people not to do it on their own.
About 950,000 people in the UK have applied for universal credit in the two weeks since the country’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, asked people to stay home to limit the spread of coronavirus.
There are normally around 100,000 applicants for the benefit per two-week period. The government has moved 10,000 staff to process the claims and is recruiting more.
Related: 950,000 apply for universal credit in two weeks of UK lockdown
The first coronavirus case among Brazil’s 300 indigenous tribes has been confirmed by the Health Ministry’s indigenous health service Sesai.
The 19-year-old woman from a village deep inside the Amazon rainforest is a medical worker who travelled up river to several villages and returned home with a fever, a sore throat and chest pains.
Related: 'Coronavirus could wipe us out': indigenous South Americans blockade villages
The Scottish government has significantly increased the timescales for answering freedom of information requests due to the conoravirus crisis after winning a series of knife-edge votes in Holyrood.
Hundreds of Scottish public bodies will now be given up to 60 working days to answer information requests, and could be allowed another 40 days under special circumstances, after ministers forced through major changes to Scotland’s FoI regime.
In the UK, health workers are making improvised masks out of snorkels, buying kit from hardware stores and using school science goggles to protect themselves in anticipation of a rise in coronavirus cases, it has emerged.
An NHS consultant anaesthetist working in south-east England reported buying 60 snorkels to adapt into respirator masks. “Various other places are doing the same,” the doctor told the Guardian. “One trust has ordered 500 and teamed up with companies who are (3D) printing the adapters.”
Dr Tedros also raised concerns about the spread of Covid-19 in developing countries.
“While relatively lower numbers of confirmed cases have been reported from Africa and from central and south America, we realise that Covid-19 could have serious social, economic and political consequences for these regions,” he said.
The daily World Health Organisation press briefing on the development of Covid-19 has begun in Geneva.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the WHO, has said he was “deeply concerned about the rapid escalation and global spread of infection”.
Known global cases near 900,000
According to data collected by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, 887,067 people around the world have become infected, 44,264 of whom have died. They also count 185,541 people who have recovered.
My colleagues Damian Carrington, Jillian Ambrose and Matthew Taylor have written an analysis on how the coronavirus combined with a savage price war will mean the oil industry will never be the same again.
Experts say it faces the gravest challenge in its 100-year history, they say, one that will permanently alter the industry. With some calling the scene a “hellscape”, the least lurid description is “unprecedented”.
Related: Will the coronavirus kill the oil industry and help save the climate?
Portugal’s government has cleared the way to extend the nationwide state of emergency by 15 days to combat the spread of coronavirus.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared an initial 15-day state of emergency on March 18, which restricted non-essential travel and led thousands of businesses to close their doors.
France is likely to unwind its nationwide lockdown gradually rather than in one go, the prime minister has said.
The French government has ordered people to stay at home except for essential outings until at least April 15.
Israel’s defence minister has suggested that providing aid to people trapped in the Gaza Strip during the pandemic might depend on Hamas militants handing over the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2014 war.
“Israel also has humanitarian needs, which are mainly the recovery of the fallen,” Naftali Bennett told reporters.
The first charter flight in the UK’s £75m coronavirus rescue operation will leave Algeria on 2 April with departures from South Africa, Nepal and India to follow.
As the foreign secretary Dominic Raab and the transport secretary Grant Shapps continue negotiations to get a series of charter flights to help the most vulnerable stranded UK nationals, British embassies around the world disclosed details of operations underway. There are thought to be about 400,000 Britons stranded overseas.
Related: First British rescue flight set to depart as part of £75m operation
Doubt has been cast over India’s claim that it has no community transmission of coronavirus after the country reported its biggest daily rise in number of cases so far, connected to a religious gathering held in Delhi two weeks ago.
India reported a record increase of 386 cases in the past 24 hours, pushing the total number to 1,637, according to the country’s health ministry. The death toll is now 38.
Related: India coronavirus cases rise amid fears true figure much higher
The death toll from Covid-19 in Italy has climbed by 727 to 13,155 – the lowest number since March 26.
Figures from the Civil Protection Agency show that the number of new cases rose more sharply than a few days earlier, growing by 4,782 compared to 4,053.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing the government to declare a state of emergency in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus.
It comes as Putin began working remotely on Wednesday after the head of the country’s main coronavirus hospital tested positive for Covid-19 after meeting the president.
Unemployment in Austria has jumped by 66% to the highest level since records began in 1946, despite a government bid to avoid mass lay-offs amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Official data shows that the unemployment rate in the country rose by 4.8 points from the same period in 2019 to 12.2%, as jobs in sectors including tourism and retail were wiped out.
Cyprus has announced its biggest daily rise, yet, in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases on the island.
On Wednesday evening the health ministry said there had been 58 new cases overnight bringing the total number of those who have tested positive for the novel virus to 320 in the EU’s most easterly member state.
A senior official in Serbia’s government has died from coronavirus, a health official has said.
Branislav Blazic, 63, a state secretary with the Ministry for Environmental protection, died on Wednesday after being hospitalised with symptoms of the virus.
US intelligence believe China has underreported the total number of cases and deaths from Covid-19 in its country, according to US officials.
The conclusions of a classified report from the intelligence to the community to the White House were revealed to Bloomberg by three anonymous officials who declined to detail its contents.
Global confirmed cases of Covid-19 are nearing 900,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
On Wednesday afternoon, confirmed cases across the world stood at 883,225, while 44,156 people have died.
A state of national emergency may be declared in Russia during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Reuters.
The news organisation said three senior officials had told it the government as mulling over the decision in a bid to bring in tougher social distancing measures, although the Kremlin has denied the reports.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has extended the “contact ban” put in place to slow the spread of Covid-19 until after the Easter holidays.
Speaking after a telephone conference with the premiers of Germany’s 16 federal states, she said it was too soon to relax the social distancing measures put in place, and advised people to “generally pass on private trips and visits to relatives” until 19 April.
Mid-afternoon stats show that 49 African Union member states are reporting a total of 5,800 Covid-19 cases, with just under 200 deaths.
South Africa has the highest total of confirmed cases with 1,353, but its numbers have been going up very slowly in recent days, just a few dozen every 24 hours, raising hopes that early closure of air links and a lockdown may help stem the spread of the disease there.
Social distancing measures have been extended in Germany until at least 19 April, and will be re-evaluated on the Tuesday after Easter, Angela Merkel has said.
The German chancellor spoke after a telephone conference with the premiers of Germany’s 16 states on Wednesday afternoon, in which they agreed a draft resolution urging people “to keep contact with people beyond their own household to an absolute minimum, even during the Easter holidays, in accordance with the applicable rules,” according to German media cited by Deutsche Welle.
In worrying news from India, the first case of coronavirus has been confirmed in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, according to local media. Up to a million people live crowded together in Dharavi, an area of just over 2.1 square kilometres.
The patient, a 56-year-old man, is now being treated at Sion hospital, India Today reports. Authorities have sealed the building where he lives - with the rest of its residents still inside - and placed eight to ten members of his family in quarantine, according to the report.
Up to a million people live in Mumbai's Dharavi slum area, one of the most densely populated places on earth. It just recorded its first coronavirus case https://t.co/7UsWy3QNQi
About 8 million more people in the Arab world will be plunged into poverty by the economic spasm caused by the Covid-19 crisis, leading to a likely 2 million becoming undernourished, the UN’s economic and social commission for western Asia says.
ESCWA said a lack of social security in many Arab countries will leave the most vulnerable with few means to make it through the pandemic. Currently, 101.4 million people in the region would be classified as poor, and 52 million as undernourished. The ESCWA executive secretary, Rola Dashti, said:
The consequences of this crisis will be particularly severe on vulnerable groups, especially women and young adults, and those working in the informal sector who have no access to social protection and unemployment insurance.
Arab governments must ensure a swift emergency response to protect their people from falling into poverty and food insecurity owing to the impact of Covid-19.
Deaths from the coronavirus surged past 1,000 in New York City on Wednesday, as an emergency field hospital was opened in Central Park, the Associated Press reports.
Data released by the city’s health department shows that the disease is having a disproportionate effect in certain neighbourhoods, mainly in Brooklyn and Queens.
As emergency measures and states of exception are put into place around the world, Germany on Wednesday called on all EU nations to respect the principle of the rule of law.
The German statement comes two days after Hungary’s nationalist premier Viktor Orbán assumed sweeping new powers to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. The new law gives Orban the power to indefinitely rule by decree until the government declares the emergency over.
We have very clear principles of the rule of law in the EU, and these have to be observed by all member states. The values on which the union is built are respect for human dignity, freedom, equality, rule of law and respect for human rights.
The EU only functions as a community of values if these values are respected and defended by all.
It's of outmost importance that emergency measures are not at the expense of our fundamental principles and values. Democracy cannot work without free and independent media. Respect of freedom of expression and legal certainty are essential in these uncertain times.
.@EU_Commission will closely monitor, in a spirit of cooperation, the application of emergency measures in all Member States. We all need to work together to master this crisis. On this path, we'll uphold our European values & human rights. This is who we are & what we stand for.
US president Donald Trump warned Americans to brace for a “very painful two weeks” yesterday.
During a White House press conference officials said the pandemic could claim up to 240,000 lives across the country, even if social distancing is maintained.
Related: US coronavirus live: CDC to look again at whether Americans should wear masks in public
Saudi Arabia reports six deaths and 157 new cases of coronavirus.
Saudi Arabian health ministry has confirmed 157 new coronavirus cases in last 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 1,720 in the kingdom.
Six new deaths of Covid-19 have also been reported in same period, pushing the total number deaths to 16.
Three of new deaths are residents in Medina, one Saudi citizen also in Medina, one resident in Riyadh, and another resident in Mecca.
Seventy-eight of new coronavirus positive cases confirmed in the city of Madina, while 264 patients have been recovered so far, health ministry said.
Saudi Arabian officials asked Muslims around the world to delay preparation for Hajj pilgrimage, the biggest occasion in the Islamic calendar, due to coronavirus.
Aung San Suu Kyi has cited the coronavirus pandemic as the reason she has created a personal Facebook account.
The Myanmar leader has rarely given press conferences or interviews since coming to power in 2016, instead communicating through formal statements and public meetings.
President Erdoğan of Turkey has said the country will have to strengthen anti-coronavirus measures if people don’t abide by a “voluntary quarantine”.
On Wednesday, he told a meeting of his AK party provincial heads during a televised virtual conference:
We won’t need further measures if all our citizens keep themselves in a voluntary quarantine. However, we may have to take much more advanced measures if the pandemic spreads and our citizens don’t stay at home.”
Deaths of coronavirus patients in UK hospitals have risen by 563 in a single day to 2,352 as of 31 March.
The Department of Health and Social Care said that as of 9am on 1 April, a total of 152,979 people had been tested for the virus, of whom 29,474 tested positive.
Related: UK coronavirus live: hospital death toll rises by 563 in a day, taking total to 2,352
British American Tobacco, the maker of brands including Lucky Strike, Dunhill, Rothmans and Benson & Hedges, has said it has a potential coronavirus vaccine in development using tobacco plants.
BAT has turned the vast resources usually focused on creating products that pose health risks to millions of smokers worldwide to battling the global pandemic. The company said:
If testing goes well, BAT is hopeful that, with the right partners and support from government agencies, between 1m and 3m doses of the vaccine could be manufactured per week, beginning in June.”
Related: British American Tobacco working on plant-based coronavirus vaccine
South Korea has received requests from 121 countries for help with coronavirus testing, a foreign ministry official said on Wednesday, as authorities around the world come under intense pressure to curb the spread of the disease.
South Korea’s massive testing campaign, backed by intensive contact tracing, has been credited with helping slow the spread of coronavirus in the country, which once had the second largest outbreak after China.
Some fear that coronavirus may be even more destructive for the European Union than the eurozone bailouts, the migration crisis and Brexit, our Brussels correspondent Jennifer Rankin reports.
Jacques Delors, the former European commission president who helped build the modern EU, warned last weekend that lack of solidarity across the bloc posed “a mortal danger to the European Union”.
Related: Coronavirus could be final straw for EU, European experts warn
Thailand is giving its public free mobile data to help companies initiate work-from-home policies and schools to use remote learning amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Takorn Tantasith, secretary general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission, said on Tuesday that individuals would be able to register for 10GB of data per month from 10 April.
Edinburgh’s five August festivals, including the world’s biggest arts festival Fringe, have been cancelled due to ongoing concerns about the spread of coronavirus.
The festivals, featuring 25,000 artists from more than 70 countries, attract audiences of around 4.5m people to Scotland’s capital annually.
Related: Edinburgh's August festivals cancelled due to coronavirus
The European commission has proposed a short-time work scheme to avoid mass lay-offs across the bloc during the coronavirus pandemic. The scheme, which is modelled on Germany’s Kurzabeit programme, was announced by commission head Ursula von der Leyen in a video message.
She did not confirm how it would be funded, but said it would be guaranteed by all 27 EU countries.
Companies are paying salaries to their employees, even if, right now, they are not making money. Europe is now coming to their support, with a new initiative.
“It is intended to help Italy, Spain and all other countries that have been hard hit. And it will do so thanks to the solidarity of other member states,” she said.
Italy has extended lockdown restrictions until 13 April as signs emerge indicating the coronavirus contagion might be reaching a “plateau”.
“Italians have shown great maturity,” Roberto Speranza, the health minister, told parliament on Wednesday. “Experts say we are on the right track, and that the drastic measures taken are starting to give results.” However, Speranza warned “we must not drop our guard” as the recovery will be “prudent and gradual”.
“It would be unforgiveable to mistake this first result for a
definitive defeat of Covid, it’s a long battle.”
The number of new confirmed infections rose by 2,107 on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases to 77,635, according to figures from Italy’s civil protection authority. The rise in infections was higher than the daily increase registered on Monday (1,648), but lower than Sunday’s increase of 3,815.
On Tuesday, there was a 2.8% increase in new (ie current) infections, compared with an average daily rise of 15% during one of the most critical weeks.
The death toll rose by 837 on Tuesday to 12,428, higher than the 812 deaths registered on Monday. The number of people who have recovered from the virus rose by 1,109 to 15,729 on Tuesday, following a record leap of 1,590 on Monday.
The daily death toll and infection rate have also started to slow in Lombardy, the region worst-affected by the virus.
“The curve tells us that we’re at a plateau,” said Silvio Brusaferro, the president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS).
Confirmed coronavirus infections in the Netherlands have risen by 1,019 to 13,614 on Wednesday. Health authorities also confirmed that there had been 134 new deaths from Covid-19.
Summary
Anti-coronavirus lockdown measures in Italy are to be extended to 13 April, health minister Roberto Speranza has said.
He told the upper house Senate on Wednesday:
We must not confuse the first positive signals with an ‘all clear’ signal. Data shows that we are on the right path and that the drastic decisions are bearing fruit.”
Health workers in Uganda have accused the government of endangering lives by requiring that people seek permission to travel to hospitals.
President Yoweri Museveni imposed a 14-day virtual lockdown on Monday to try to clamp down on the spread of Covid-19, which has infected 44 people in the east African country so far.
Other medical emergencies like maternal have not stopped because coronavirus has come.
“No mother in labour pains should ask for permission to deliver her baby. We will end up having unnecessary and preventable deaths.”
Here’s some context to earlier news that the number of Covid-19 cases in Spain has passed 100,000. Figures from the country’s health ministry suggest the spread of the virus may be continuing to slow as Spain passes into what the government has called the “stabilisation phase”.
By Wednesday, Spain had recorded 102,136 cases and 9,053 deaths, and the past 24 hours have seen yet another record single-day death toll of 864.
If we only look at cases of people who are being treated in hospitals – which are the figures that allow for a precise analysis of the spread of the epidemic and of the effectiveness of our measures against the virus, such as social distancing – then the percentage is still coming down in comparison with previous days. That helps tell us that the social distancing measures are really working.”
A bleak report from Reuters in Delhi, India’s capital, on the desperate plight of the homeless amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Some of us will die, some of us will live to suffer,” warns one local.
In a densely packed neighbourhood of Delhi, hundreds of homeless people queued up this week as volunteers doled out rice and peas from a vat in the back of a van.
Only a handful of the people in the crowd wore masks. There were no hand sanitizers or wash basins in sight and no social distancing.
The German government has rejected calls for a country-wide mandatory use of masks while also calling on manufacturers to ramp up their production of protective facial gear.
Austria’s chancellor had on Monday announced his government would make it compulsory for shoppers to wear facial masks in supermarkets from this Wednesday, leading to calls on the German government to copy its southern neighbour.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a government meeting today by video conference, the Kremlin has said.
It comes a day after a doctor who met Putin last week said he had been diagnosed with the virus. Denis Protsenko last week gave Putin a tour of Moscow’s main coronavirus hospital and shook hands with the Russian leader. Protsenko is now self-isolating in his office, Reuters reports.
As Greece enters its third week since restrictive measures were first imposed to combat the spread of coronavirus, there is mounting concern that fatigue is setting in amid signs of people beginning to flout the policies.
Speaking to ANT1 TV, the government spokesman Stelios Petsas said the centre-right administration was now considering placing a time limit on the movement of citizens outdoors.
The world’s biggest medical glove manufacturer is battling with a shortage of workers as it tries to meet a huge surge in demand, with countries running low on personal protective equipment stocks due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Malaysia’s Top Glove Corp Bhd, which makes one out of every five gloves in the world, needs to urgently recruit up to 700 more employees as orders in the past few weeks have doubled, the company has told Reuters.
We were already experiencing a shortage of workers in the beginning of the year, which has now become more serious following the implementation of Malaysia’s movement control order.
A former Vietnam war era refugee camp on an uninhabited island in Indonesia is being repurposed to house a new emergency hospital to treat Covid-19 patients.
Indonesia, which has recorded 1,677 cases of coronavirus and 157 deaths, will next week open the hospital on the island of Galang.
My colleagues Sam Jones and Kim Willsher report that a 99-year-old who was the last living survivor of La Nueve - a company of mainly Spanish troops that was the first to enter Paris August 1944 marking the city’s liberation from Nazi occupation – has died after contracting coronavirus in a nursing home in Strasbourg.
Rafael Gómez Nieto grew up in Andalucia near Almeria, the son of a career soldier who had been part of the royal guard to the Spanish king Alfonso XIII. He was a veteran of the Spanish civil war, having fought in the four-month Battle of Ebro, the longest and largest battle of the conflict, in 1938. At the end of the war in Spain he crossed the border into France where he was briefly interned before travelling to north Africa where he joined La Nueve.
The coronavirus death toll in Iran has passed 3,000. The Iranian health ministry reported 138 new deaths of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of deaths to 3036.
Some 2,987 new positive cases have also been recorded in the same period of time, taking the total number infections in the country to 47,593.
Spain has crossed the threshold of 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, health officials said on Wednesday.
According to official figures, it now has more cases than any country except Italy and the US. Spain also reached a new record single-day death toll between Tuesday and Wednesday, with a total of 864 deaths. The country has now logged 102,136 cases of the virus and 9,053 deaths.
It is an image that brings home the grim reality of the coronavirus pandemic facing the world. A health worker peers through the window of a train carriage as colleagues treat a patient battling Covid-19 inside.
Japan is struggling to hold the line against the growing threat of the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s prime minister has warned, with a risk of a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.
So far the country has 2,200 coronavirus cases and 66 deaths, relatively few compared with other nations, but infections are rising. There were 105 reported on Wednesday, 65 of them in the capital, Tokyo.
Many experts expressed very strong sense of crisis and opinions over the spread of infections in Tokyo and the current state of medical preparedness. We must prevent infections from spreading further no matter what. We have come to the edge of edges, to the very brink.”
A smartphone app designed to keep tabs on people who have been ordered to stay at home because of the coronavirus has been unveiled in Russia, as the country expands its lockdown.
In Moscow – the centre of Russia’s Covid-19 outbreak where a partial lockdown was announced on Sunday – authorities have developed a smartphone app for residents who have contracted the virus to download that would allow them to be monitored, Reuters report.
The people of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus is thought to have originated, know better than most about living under the spectre of Covid-19. As the city of 11 million people begins to ease lockdown measures, Reuters have compiled a snapshot of residents’ experiences and advice:
In the beginning, I was quite scared because my job involves meeting lots of people, so I went home and quarantined myself. After the government measures to control the epidemic started to work in February, I became more relaxed and in a better mood. And since my housing compound has had no cases, they’ve started allowing us to go out.
The situation overseas, especially in Italy, really makes my heart ache. I hope that overseas coronavirus patients will be able to overcome this.”
In the beginning I was pretty scared, because the week after the lockdown was when the infections in Wuhan peaked, and the numbers published every day made me very sad.
I wasn’t used to being at home and I would feel very anxious because everyone was very nervous; you’d open the windows to look outside and it would be completely empty, you wouldn’t even see a shadow. It felt very miserable and not like my home, a city usually bustling with life.
We live in the same world, and we need to work hard together to defeat this illness. Everyone should go out less, stay at home to read books, watch television and play games with the family.”
You have to stay hopeful, limit contact with others, reduce visits to crowded places. These are the only way you can protect yourself and your family.”
I’ve been working as a volunteer and recently joined a disinfectant company to spray shops and streets. This epidemic has made me feel that we Chinese are really strong.
As someone who has lived through this, I would like to tell everyone don’t panic, you have to adjust your state of mind. Secondly make sure you take precautions, like washing your hands, ensuring good ventilation and exercising regularly.”
I have seen how medical workers have helped Wuhan. We are very grateful. Now that it feels like we’re close to victory, I would like to tell the world’s citizens ‘add oil’, keep going! Let’s work hard together and I’m sure everyone will beat this.”
I am a Wuhan native. Since the city’s lockdown, I haven’t left the house. In the beginning, I was quite panicked, because this epidemic is very severe.
I had stocked up on some essential goods before the Lunar New Year holiday, later my neighbourhood set up a group-buying chat group so we could buy food that would be delivered in bulk. Life wasn’t easy but staying at home was more safe.
Based on the Wuhan experience, a good way to beat this is to stay at home, don’t go out, limit contact, bore this virus to death by staying at home. This is the best solution.”
My aunt was diagnosed as having the virus on Jan. 22 and then slowly her family got infected. At the time they received a lot of help from the community.
I chose to volunteer because I found it very difficult to just stay on the sidelines. The situation made me very emotional. Wuhan is my home. This virus is very scary. To fight it we need to keep a positive attitude and be united.”
We basically didn’t go out and didn’t visit other people’s houses. Everything stopped. We didn’t even visit our relatives or have meals together during the Lunar New Year holiday.
If we in China can overcome this epidemic, other countries can definitely triumph over their difficulties. You have to rely on your willpower, figure out ways to make it retreat, learn from China to have a responsible attitude, don’t take the virus lightly and don’t go out on the streets without masks.”
Emmanuel Macron has said France will invest €4bn in “strategic” health products including masks and respirators, with the aim of making the country “fully and completely self-sufficient” by the end of this year.
“Our priority today is to start producing from now on in France,” Macron said during a visit to a factory producing masks near Angers in the Maine-et-Loire re