Coronavirus: Dutch cases rise to 39,791 with 98 new deaths
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Lab under US military creates test for pre-infectious Covid-19 carriers
A new Covid-19 test has been designed by scientists working for the US military.
The test can potentially identify carriers before they become infectious and spread the disease, reports The Guardian.
Project coordinators hope the blood-based test will be able to detect the virus's presence as early as 24 hours after infection – before people show symptoms and several days before a carrier is considered capable of spreading it to other people. Which is also around four days before current tests can detect the virus.
European Parliament in Brussels shelters 100 homeless women
A European Parliament building in the Belgian capital Brussels is housing 100 homeless women.
Many of the women sheltering there are victims of domestic abuse, who have been severely affected by Belgium's coronavirus lockdown, reports the BBC.
The Helmut Kohl building, an office block in the city centre, opened its doors to them on Wednesday. Offices have been turned into bedrooms, each for one or two women. They also get meals and medical care there.
Maker of coronavirus trial drug aims for wide distribution -Gilead CEO
Gilead Sciences, which manufactures remdesivir, is focused on making the experimental coronavirus drug accessible and affordable to as many people as possible once it is approved, Chief Executive Officer Daniel O'Day said on Friday.
Interest in remdesivir has been high as there are no approved treatments or preventive vaccines yet for Covid-19, and early US government trial results on Wednesday showed the drug helped patients recover more quickly from the illness caused by the new coronavirus than patients given a placebo.
Big Mac at a distance: Dutch McDonald's trials virus-proof restaurant
Big Macs delivered on meal trolleys, hand sanitizers at the entrance and designated waiting spots to separate customers could become a feature of McDonald's restaurants in the Netherlands when they are allowed to reopen.
In a trial at a restaurant in the city of Arnhem, McDonald's has been looking for ways to maintain social distancing when the coronavirus lockdown is relaxed.
"We have tried to figure out how to keep our customers and employees safe, while maintaining a restaurant atmosphere," McDonald's Netherlands spokeswoman Eunice Koekkoek told Reuters.
Death toll in English hospitals rises 352 to 20,483
The Covid-19 death toll in English hospitals has risen by 352 from the day before to 20,483, including 18 people who did not have any known underlying health conditions, health officials said on Friday.
India extends lockdown by two weeks, but loosens measures in lower-risk areas
India said on Friday it would extend its nationwide lockdown for another two weeks after May 4, but would allow "considerable relaxations" in lower-risk districts marked as green and orange zones under the government's plan to fight the novel coronavirus.
Afghanistan suffers upsurge in fighting and in coronavirus
Clashes between Taliban fighters and Afghan forces intensified in northern Balkh and southern Logar province as warring sides fought to control checkpoints and the number of coronavirus cases in Afghanistan rises, officials said on Friday.
In recent weeks, the Taliban has attacked several provinces, ignoring a pledge to reduce violence as part of a peace deal signed with the US government on Feb. 29.
The fighting also defies an appeal from international aid agencies for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Long lines, lots of kids, and plenty to touch: How does Disney reopen its parks?
For a glimpse at how Disney recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, look no further than Shanghai, where the entertainment giant has staged a limited reopening of Shanghai Disney Resort. Adults, kids and senior citizens wear masks while wandering among staff and security guards who carry contact-less thermometers and hand sanitizer.
As some US states lift stay-at-home orders, investors and park fans are watching to see how Walt Disney Co — which makes a third of its revenue from parks, experiences and products — reimagines the "happiest place on earth" for a world altered by the coronavirus.
Potential UK Covid-19 vaccine producer eyes making a million doses a month
A manufacturer of a possible Covid-19 vaccine being developed by British scientists said on Friday it may know by the end of May if it can make a million doses a month with a view to building stocks for commercial supply when the vaccine is approved.
Cobra Biologics is one of the firms working to make a potential vaccine known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 being developed by scientists at the University of Oxford.
Chief Executive Peter Coleman said the firm is not responsible for proving the efficacy of the vaccine, with those trials being run by the Oxford team, and there was a lot of risk involved in the project.
India to keep restrictions in big cities under staggered exit from lockdown
India’s big cities will stay under tight restrictions after a nationwide lockdown ends on Sunday, while areas less hard-hit by the coronavirus will be allowed to resume some activity, according to a government letter and state-level officials.
Indian authorities are trying to chart a path out of the world’s biggest lockdown, imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25, which they credit with preventing an exponential surge in coronavirus infections.
Dutch coronavirus cases rise to 39,791 with 98 new deaths - health authorities
The Netherlands’ number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen by 475 to 39,791 health authorities said on Friday, with 98 new deaths.
The country’s death toll stands at 4,893, the Netherlands’ Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in its daily update.
The RIVM cautioned it only reports confirmed cases, and actual numbers are higher.
Trump confident that coronavirus may have originated in Chinese lab
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was confident the coronavirus may have originated in a Chinese virology lab, but declined to describe the evidence, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing over the origins of the deadly outbreak.
Trump did not mince words at a White House event on Thursday, when asked if he had seen evidence that gave him a "high degree of confidence" the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Imported by the rich, coronavirus now devastating Brazil's poor
Imported by the Brazilian elite vacationing in Europe, the new coronavirus is now ravaging the country's poor, ripping through tightly-packed neighborhoods where the disease is harder to control.
Public health data analyzed by Reuters for the cities of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza show a shift in recent weeks from the wealthy boroughs that seeded the outbreak to the gritty urban outskirts.
Too risky to come home, crew of 'clean' US warship in coronavirus limbo
On any given day, the US aircraft carrier Harry S Truman can be found off the Atlantic coast of the United States, probably somewhere between Virginia and Florida. Its crew would love to come home to their families. But they can't. They're just too valuable right now.
That's because the Truman is a "clean" ship, free from the coronavirus thanks to a longer-than-expected deployment at sea that started in November. The deployment has kept its battle-ready 4,500 crew out of reach of a pandemic that is wreaking havoc elsewhere in the Navy.
China's Hubei to lower emergency coronavirus response level: Xinhua
China’s central province of Hubei will lower its coronavirus emergency response level from the highest to second-highest level from Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency reported Friday, citing a local official.
The virus was first detected in the province’s capital Wuhan in late 2019.
Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated decline in press freedom - IPI
International Press Institute (IPI) said the state of press freedom around the world has worsened with the spread of the Covid-19, as both autocratic and democratic governments are increasingly clamping down on the media.
The organisation made the remarks through a press statement on Friday.
According to the IPI statement, within months of spreading across the globe, the Covid-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to journalists and media outlets. Arrests, physical attacks and regressive fake news regulations have exacerbated an already difficult environment for the media.
France's Macron says May 11 will not signal return to normal life
President Emmanuel Macron warned on Friday that the end of the national lockdown on May 11 would only be a first step as France looks to move out of the crisis created by the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“May 11 will not be the passage to normal life,” Macron said during a speech to mark May 1. “There will be several phases and May 11 will be one of them.”
South Africa takes first steps towards reopening battered economy
South Africa took its first shaky steps on Friday towards rolling back one of the world’s strictest Covid-19 lockdowns as it sought to strike a balance between containing the disease and reviving its battered economy.
Five weeks ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered most citizens to remain indoors and shuttered all but essential businesses as part of a response to the pandemic that has won praise from the World Health Organization.
But Africa’s most advanced economy was already in a recession before the pandemic. And with the shutdown threatening to send already rampant unemployment soaring, the government has come under intense pressure to ease restrictions. Reopening the economy is proving harder than closing it down. Regulations only finalised on Wednesday have caused confusion and, under the first phase of easing, only some sectors may resume operations, and with limited staff.
Coronavirus shatters silver screen dreams for India's Bollywood
India's film industry, purveyor of song-and-dance spectacles to millions, will take at least two years to recover financially from the coronavirus pandemic, which is threatening big-ticket projects, putting at risk tens of thousands of jobs.
That was the sombre assessment of about a dozen top producers, distributors and actors from Bollywood, the movie industry in India's commercial capital of Mumbai, during a video conference this week, one of the participants said.
"Making movies has always been a gamble, and now some of us can pack up for the next year," said a film-maker responsible for many successful action movies, on condition of anonymity. "We will have to beg people to come to cinema halls."
Up to two more years of pandemic misery: Expert report predicts
A team of longstanding pandemic experts predicted in a report released on Thursday that the new coronavirus is likely to keep spreading for at least another 18 months to two years—until 60 percent to 70 percent of the population has been infected.
They recommended that the US prepare for a worst-case scenario that includes a second big wave of coronavirus infections in the fall and winter, reports the CNN.
Even in a best-case scenario, people will continue to die from the virus, they predicted.
Britons fear leaving homes even if lockdown lifted, poll shows
Many Britons would be uncomfortable leaving their homes even if the government ordered the lifting of strict coronavirus lockdown restrictions in a month's time, according to a poll on Friday.
Britain has been on lockdown since March 23 but on Thursday Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the country was now past the peak of the pandemic and promised to set out a plan next week on how it might start gradually easing restrictions to allow a return to normal life.
A survey by Ipsos Mori showed that more than 60 percent would be uncomfortable returning to bars and restaurants, using public transport or going to a large gathering such as a sporting event.
Amazon extends work from home regime till October 2
Amazon.com Inc has told staff whose job can be done from home that they can do so until at least Oct. 2, pushing out the timeline on a return to work for many employees as it faces scrutiny over conditions in its warehouses.
"Employees who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so until at least October 2," an Amazon spokesman said in an emailed statement on Friday, adding it was applicable to such roles globally.
The statement did not specify how much of the company's overall workforce that covered and which roles.
Tourists trickle back to village by China's Great Wall as virus curbs relaxed
The mock Qing dynasty village nestled below the Great Wall would normally be teeming with tourists on Labour Day, but the thin crowds on Friday showed that while China’s coronavirus epidemic has subsided, people’s fears could take longer to fade.
During holidays, some 100,000 visitors a day would traipse round the quaint stone-paved streets of Gubei Water Town, 110 kilometres (68 miles) northeast of Beijing. Its marketing manager reckoned on getting just a tenth of that number this year.
“People have concerns about the virus and are unwilling to travel long distances,” said Guo Baorong. For a start, there will be no international tourists this time, he said, noting foreigners would normally make up around 15 percent of visitors.
Bangladesh reports 2 more deaths from coronavirus, 571 new cases
Bangladesh today confirmed two more deaths from the novel coronavirus and 571 new cases of infection testing 5,573 samples in the last 24 hours.
With this, the death toll from the deadly virus rose to 170 and the number of total infections stood at 8,238.
Additional Director General of Health Directorate Nasima Sultana made the disclosure during a virtual briefing today.
Britain's daily testing target may have been met: minister
Britain may have hit its daily target of carrying out 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day, or will come close, putting in place the beginnings of a network to test, track and trace people through the pandemic, housing minister Robert Jenrick said on Friday.
After weeks of being criticised for moving too slowly on testing for the novel coronavirus, health minister Matt Hancock set the target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April, increasing the number of drive-through testing sites and sending out home tests to a wider number of eligible people. With Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying Britain had passed through the coronavirus peak, a mass testing programme to gauge the spread of the virus through the population is seen as key to any easing of the social distancing measures that have all but shut down the economy and forced millions to stay at home.
“I don’t have the figures yet, they’ll be published later today. But it looks like we’ll either meet the target or come close so we will have very significantly increased the amount of testing in this country,” he told BBC TV.
Iran death toll from coronavirus rises by 63 to 6,091: Health Ministry
Iran’s death toll from the outbreak of the new coronavirus increased by 63 in the past 24 hours to 6,091, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said in a statement on state TV on Friday.
The total number of diagnosed cases of the new coronavirus in the Islamic Republic, one of the Middle Eastern countries hardest hit by the outbreak, has reached 95,646, including 2,899 in critical condition, he added.
Japan's coronavirus containment needs to stay until cases fall more: experts
Japan needs to keep its coronavirus containment policies in place until the number of cases falls more, experts said on Friday, with the government set to decide on whether to maintain a state of emergency.
The month-long state of emergency is set to expire on May 6.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the situation remained tough and he would make a decision on the emergency or Monday.
Spain's coronavirus death toll climbs to 24,824: health ministry
Spain’s coronavirus death toll rose to 24,824 on Friday as 281 more people died from causes related to the disease overnight, the health ministry said.
The number of new coronavirus cases diagnosed in the country rose to a total 215,216 on Friday from 213,435 the day before, the ministry said on its website.
The previous day’s death toll was 268.
Deflation fears creep back in Japan as pandemic hits prices
Consumer prices in Japan's capital city fell for the first time in three years in April and national factory activity slumped, data showed on Friday, increasing worries the coronavirus pandemic could tip the country back into deflation.
The darkening outlook in the world's third-largest economy is already heightening calls for bigger spending, even after parliament approved an extra budget to fund a $1.1 trillion stimulus package to cushion the blow from the pandemic.
Trump threatens new tariffs on China in retaliation for coronavirus
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday his hard-fought trade deal with China was now of secondary importance to the coronavirus pandemic and he threatened new tariffs on Beijing, as his administration crafted retaliatory measures over the outbreak.
Trump's sharpened rhetoric against China reflected his growing frustration with Beijing over the pandemic, which has cost tens of thousands of lives in the United States alone, sparked an economic contraction and threatened his chances of re-election in November.
Coronavirus was 'not manmade or genetically modified': US spy agency
The top US spy agency said for the first time on Thursday the American intelligence community believes the Covid-19 virus that originated in China was not manmade or genetically modified.
The Office of Director of National Intelligence statement contradicted conspiracy theories floated by anti-China activists and some supporters of President Donald Trump suggesting the new coronavirus was developed by Chinese scientists in a government biological weapons laboratory from which it then escaped.
