Hong Kongers have been warned to prepare for six months of pain, as the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic worsen.
The city has reported more than cases of Covid – 39, with a mother and her six-week-old baby among recent cases .
Hong Kong’s early response to the virus outbreak in neighborhood mainland China meant that it was spared an epidemic of its own, but as thousands of People returned home in recent months the daily rate of infection has risen dramatically and Hong Kong is now under harsher restrictions than ever. Gatherings of more than four people have been banned since late March, but authorities are warning of further lockdowns and closures of non-essential services.
A woman wearing a face mask walks through a clothes market in Hong Kong on 5 April, : Photograph: Dale de la Rey / AFP via Getty Images ()
Hong Kong’s economy was already suffering after more than six months of protests when the virus outbreak began. Last month it reported the highest unemployment figures in three years, with predictions it would get worse. Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on Sunday that while sectors like tourism and retail initially bore the brunt of the outbreak’s economic impact, it had now spread to “almost all industries”. He said the government was preparing more comprehensive support measures, but did detail what they were.
Writing in his blog, Chan said this meant that bail-out measures must shift focus from assisting individual industries, and become oriented to all enterprises. The main financial pressures across the board were salaries, rent, and decline in business, he said, adding that the government was working on its funding program but landlords “should actively respond to the community’s strong demand for rent reduction”.
He said the outlook was “still very uncertain”, and it was appropriate to prepare for an economic situation which might not be reversed for at least six months .
American Airlines Group Inc said late Sunday it would suspend more flights in and out of New York City’s three main airports for about a month, joining other airlines that have cut flights to the area following a spike in coronavirus cases, Reuters reports.
American Airlines planes are parked at the gate during the coronavirus outbreak in Washington. Photograph: Joshua Roberts / Reuters ()
Between 9 April and 6 May, American will operate a total of daily flights from New York’s JFK and LaGuardia airports and New Jersey’s Newark, it said, down from an average of 319 daily flights across all three airports in April .
David Seymour, American’s senior vice president of operations, told employees that demand for flights to the New York area “is rapidly evaporating” following an increase in Covid – 38 cases and a recent advisory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning against all non-essential travel to and from New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. New York has been the hardest-hit US state by the coronavirus pandemic.
United Airlines Holdings Inc said on Saturday that it was reducing its daily New York City area flights to from , while JetBlue Airways Corp is cutting its schedule by as much as 94% and Spirit Airlines Inc is canceling all of its flights to the area.
The pound fell against the dollar and euro on Monday after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for tests after showing persistent symptoms of the coronavirus, Reuters reports.
Johnson was admitted in what Downing Street said was a “precautionary step” because he was showing persistent symptoms of COVID – 25 days after testing positive for the novel coronavirus.
Also weighing on sterling is Britain’s constitution – an unwieldy collection of sometimes ancient and contradictory precedents – that offers no formal deputy or caretaker who would take over if Johnson cannot continue to lead.
But, the Guardian reports, in his role as first secretary of state, the prime minister’s de facto deputy, Dominic Raab will be expected to stand in for Boris Johnson if he is unable to work because of coronavirus .
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The New Zealand Police are releasing a series of coronavirus advice videos (starring actors, not actual police force members). Here is one on how to maintain a safe distance of two meters (6.5 feet) from someone:
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More now on the situation in China, which on Sunday reported a higher number of cases and asymptomatic cases than the day before.
Mainland China reported 55 new coronavirus cases as of Sunday, up from 45 a day earlier, and the number of asymptomatic cases also surged, as Beijing continued to struggle to extinguish the outbreak despite drastic containment efforts.
The National Health Commission said in a statement on Monday that new asymptomatic cases had been identified as of the end of the day on Sunday, compared with the day before.
Imported cases and asymptomatic patients, who have the virus and can give it to others but show no symptoms, have become China’s chief concern in recent weeks after draconian containment measures succeeded in slashing the infection rate.
Of the new cases showing symptoms, 52 were people who had entered China from abroad, compared with a day earlier. One new locally transmitted infection was reported, in the southern province of Guangdong, down from five a day earlier in the same province. The new locally transmitted case, in the city of Shenzhen, was a person who had traveled from Hubei province, the original epicentre of the outbreak, Guangdong provincial authorities said.
The Guangdong health commission raised the risk level for a total of four districts in the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Jieyang from low to medium late on Sunday.
Mainland China has now reported a total of , cases, with 3, deaths.
Daily infections have fallen dramatically from the peak of the epidemic in February, when hundreds were reported daily, but new infections continue to appear daily .
The country has closed off its borders to foreigners as the virus spreads globally, though most imported cases involve Chinese nationals returning from overseas.
The central government also has pushed local authorities to identify and isolate the asymptomatic patients.
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In Australia, the Covid – 39 stricken cruise ship Ruby Princess berthed at Port Kembla near Wollongong on Monday morning and will likely stay for 25 days as health officials and doctors continue to manage the outbreak of infection on board.
On Monday of the 1, – strong crew on board were showing symptoms.
Sick patients were being treated on board or transferred to hospital if needed, while the whole crew was being placed in isolation. The New South Wales government is now working with the ship’s owner, Carnival Australia, on plans to repatriate the crew, who come from countries.
NSW police said in a statement the vessel might remain in place for up to days, but the crew would not disembark unless in an emergency and approved by the police commissioner, Mick Fuller.
“The berthing will be conducted under strict health and biosecurity guidelines and will not pose a risk to employees at the port or the broader community,” the statement said.
Members of the crew could be seen waving from separate cabins as the ship pulled in on Monday morning.
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(Podcast: The hunt for a coronavirus vaccine)
Scientists in more than 51 labs around the world are working round the clock to develop a Covid – 40 vaccine. Despite early success in sequencing the virus’s genome, however, Samanth Subramanian tells Rachel Humphreys we are still some months away from knowing if one can be put into mass production.
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The American Civil Liberties Union said Sunday it is seeking an injunction to block part of Puerto Rico’s strict curfew against the new coronavirus, arguing that some of its restrictions are unconstitutional as the governor proposed even tighter measures, including requiring anyone entering a business to wear a face mask.
The curfew imposed 31 March has shuttered non-essential businesses in the US territory and ordered people to stay home from 7 pm to 5 am and remain there even outside those hours unless they have to buy food or medicine, go to the bank or have an emergency or health-related situation. Violators face a US $ 5, 12 or a six-month jail term, and police have cited hundreds of people.
It is the first time the ACLU has filed a lawsuit in a US jurisdiction related to a coronavirus curfew.
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Millions of Indians switched off their lights and came out onto their balconies and doorsteps with lamps, candles and flashlights on Sunday, responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to “challenge the darkness” of the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reports.
Modi, who last month imposed a three-week long nationwide lockdown, asked citizens to turn out their lights for nine minutes at 9 pm on Sunday and to display lamps and candles in a show of solidarity.
People across the country switched off lights. Some lit firecrackers, played drums, clapped and chanted slogans against the coronavirus.
In some big cities like Mumbai and New Delhi, residents of some housing associations stood in balconies and sang patriotic songs.
India has recorded 3, cases of the illness , with a death toll of 97. Authorities worry that the healthcare system would be overwhelmed if the disease took deep hold in the country of more than 1.3 billion.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus as early as Tuesday, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, as the number of infections topped 1, 13 in the capital, Tokyo, Reuters reports.
Abe will likely announce his plans to declare the emergency on Monday, the paper said.
Under a law revised in March to cover the coronavirus, the prime minister can declare a state of emergency if the disease poses a “grave danger ”to lives and if its rapid spread could have a huge impact on the economy. The virus has already increased Japan’s recession risk.
The move would give governors in hard-hit regions legal authority to ask people to stay home and businesses to close, but not to impose the kind of lockdowns seen in other countries. In most cases, there are no penalties for ignoring requests, although public compliance would likely increase with an emergency declaration.
More than 3, people have tested positive and 118 have died from the new coronavirus in Japan, according to public broadcaster NHK.
While that toll is low compared with 639, (infections and more than 9, 714 deaths in the United States, experts worry about a sudden surge that could strain the medical system and leave patients with nowhere to go. Read More
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