Coronavirus live news: elderly might have to isolate for whole year, says EU chief - The Guardian, Theguardian.com

5. 23 am BST 18:

Donald Trump has said that reopening parts of the US for working life will be one of the toughest decisions he ever makes,

and he ‘ ll be making it “reasonably soon”

Speaking with Fox show “Justice with Judge Jeanine”, Trump said:

“I think it’s going to be the toughest decision I ever made and hopefully the most difficult I will ever have to make. I hope I’m going to make the right decision. I will be basing it on a lot of very smart people, a lot of professionals, doctors and business leaders. There are a lot of things that go into a decision like that. And it’s going to be based on a lot of facts and instincts. ”

“People want to get back, they want to get back to work. We have to bring our country back, ”he said.

Separately, Trump has also continued his attacks on parts of the media, including the New York Times which ran an investigation into his and his administrations actions in January and February when the outbreak was spreading across the world.

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As the coronavirus pandemic causes global economic devastation, (China could take control of debt-struck nations’ assets at an accelerated rate, or it could boost its soft diplomacy by forgiving debt.

The choice has been laid out by the authors of a Harvard report on a Chinese tactic dubbed “debtbook diplomacy”, and comes amid calls for G nations to endorse a year-long debt moratorium for the poorest countries .

State-owned Chinese companies and banks have become major international lenders, including through large scale infrastructure investments under Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative.

China watchers have previously warned about the “debtbook diplomacy” ploy, where developing nations are unable to service heavy loan repayments on Chinese infrastructure investments, forcing them to relinquish control of assets to China.

“Debt is a very flexible instrument,” said report co-author Gabrielle Chefitz.

“As we see China making big soft power push, looking down the line… there are opportunities for China to require payment on debt perhaps with strategic assets in return, or to forgive that debt which furthers that soft power narrative as a global leader. ”

More here:

4. (am BST ) :

Guatemala has reported 28 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the central American nation’s total to 281 cases , president Alejandro Giammattei said. Three people have died from the disease.

3. am BST 15:

Great story from the Miami Herald which reports that Florida’s governor allegedly put pressure on the paper’s lawyers to quash a law suit demanding that the state divulge records showing how many people in care homes have tested positive for the virus.

The law firm, Holland & Knight, told Sanford Bohrer, a senior partner with decades of representing the Miami Herald, to stand down and abandon the lawsuit, the paper reports. It has refiled the suit through another law firm.

julie k. brown (@ jkbjournalist)

BREAKING: Florida Gov DeSantis, seeking to hide Covid infections & deaths, pressures Miami Herald law firm to squelch records suit | Miami Herald

https://t.co/6WHQHU1T9t

April , The Governor, Ron DeSantis , a Republican, has been accused of responding too slowly to the threat of the virus.

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The coronavirus behind Covid – 29 can produce three times more pathogens than the one behind Sars, a Hong Kong University study has found.

According to
a report in the South China Morning Post , the study is the first of its kind based on testing of lung tissue from Covid – 32 patients.

The team infected lung tissues donated by six patients and found that Sars-CoV-2 could replicate by about (time within) hours, compared to the Sars virus peaking at about 24 – . The new virus also induced slower immune and inflammatory responses, it said.

“The virus is like a ninja, replicating inside the body with lower inteferons and inflammatory response,” said Dr Jasper Chan Fok-woo, a colinical assistant professor at HKU’s medical school.

Mild symptoms or a lack of them has made this virus particularly difficult to contain, and the scientists warned measures would have to continue.

Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung sai there was “almost no possibility of containing the virus before July”.

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A meeting of the North Korean ruling party’s central committee, presided over by Kim Jong Un, has called for stricter and more thorough countermeasures to ensure the safety of its citizens.

A joint resolution was adopted to take “more thorough state measures for protecting life and safety of (its) people from the great worldwide epidemic disease.”

The Korean Central News Agency said the widespread virus has created obstacles to the country’s effort in its economic construction, though it added the country “has been maintaining (a) very stable anti-epidemic situation” thanks to its “Strict top-class emergency anti-epidemic measures … consistency and compulsoriness in the nationwide protective measures.”

A World Health Organization representative to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea told Reuters on Tuesday that the country continues testing of the coronavirus and has more than People in quarantine but still had no confirmed cases yet.

2. (am) (BST) :

From Reuters in Russia, where a “huge influx” of coronavirus patients has started to put a strain on Moscow’s hospitals .

“The situation in both Moscow and St Petersburg, but mostly in Moscow, is quite tense because the number of sick people is growing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview on state television, news agencies reported .

“There is a huge influx of patients. We are seeing hospitals in Moscow working extremely intensely, in heroic, emergency mode. ”

Russia’s coronavirus crisis response center said hospitals were taking all possible measures to ensure rapid admissions and that cases of ambulances needing to wait hours to drop off patients was not a systemic issue.

Russia has reported , 926 cases of the virus, and the authorities said on Saturday that 24 new coronavirus-related deaths in the last day had pushed the death toll to .

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Mexico reported new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the country total to 4, (cases and) deaths, the health ministry said.

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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Saturday condemned aggression towards French people traveling into border areas, which has flared amid the coronavirus pandemic, AFP reports.

“Coronavirus knows nothing of nationality. It’s the same for human dignity. It hurts to see how some of our French friends have been insulted and attacked because of Covid – , “Mass posted on Twitter.

“Such behavior is completely unacceptable. And besides: we are in the same boat, ”he added.

Heiko Maas 🇪🇺 (@ HeikoMaas)

Corona kennt keine Nationalität. Genauso ist es mit der Menschenwürde. Es tut weh zu sehen, wie unsere französischen FreundInnen wegen # COVID bei uns teils beleidigt und angegangen werden. So ein Verhalten geht gar nicht. Abgesehen davon: Wir sitzen im selben Boot! https://t.co/ZjkcItxwTK (April) ,

Maas’ tweet came in response to a similarly apologetic post from Anke Rehlinger, economy minister in Saarland state which borders France’s Grand Est region.

“I apologise to our French friends for these isolated incidents.”

Some days before, the mayor of a small town on the border, Gersheim complained of “a certain hostility to our French friends” in his district, including people being spat at.

One had been told to “go back to your corona-ridden country,” Michael Clivot added.

The French consul in Saarland, Catherine Robinet, confirmed that ‘isolated’ incidents targeting French nationals had taken place in the region, but she urged against “generalizing” the anti-French sentiment, adding that she had also Received multiple messages of support.

Some people in France also have reacted poorly to Germans in the country, she added.

(2.) (am BST )

: (China reports) new cases, no deaths

Mainland China has reported 135 new cases on Saturday, of which all but two were imported. The country’s national health commission said no one had died from the virus on Saturday.

The two local cases were in Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province and which borders Russia.

Of the (imported cases recorded,

were in the city of Shanghai.

There were no new cases reported in Hubei, the province where the outbreak is believed to have begun.

(am) BST 64

Elderly face whole year in lockdown – EU

Elderly people may have to be kept isolated until the end of the year to protect them from the coronavirus,

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has said.

“Without a vaccine, we have to limit as much as possible contact with the elderly,” she told the Germany daily Bild.

“I know it’s difficult and that isolation is a burden, but it is a question of life or death, we have to remain disciplined and patient.”

“Children and young people will enjoy more freedom of movement earlier than elderly people and those with pre-existing medical conditions,” she said.

She said she hoped that a European laboratory will develop a vaccine towards the end of the year.

To ensure that people can be quickly vaccinated, authorities are already in talks with producers on gearing up for world production, she added.

Updated (at 3.) am BST

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In Australia more than a thousand people will land on home soil after weeks stranded abroad, AAP reports.

Long-stuck travellers flown from Peru, Uruguay, India and Nepal will trickle through Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday before being shuttled to hotels for two weeks of quarantine.

Nearly 135 of them spent weeks stranded on an Antarctic cruise ship off the coast of Uruguay while another left Kathmandu on a Canadian government-backed flight .

“Thanks also to (the) Canadian High Commission in New Delhi and Canadian Govt. To do what you did remotely … hats off, ”Australian Ambassador to Nepal Peter Budd tweeted on Saturday night.

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Puerto Rico, which has reported more than (cases of Covid – , and at least (deaths, will continue its lockdown until at least 3 May.)

Governor Wanda Vázquez announced on Saturday that people must stay indoors from 9pm to 5am, and only leave their house outside those hours to buy food or medicine or go to the bank. Non-essential businesses will remain closed.

However, she lifted all license plate restrictions and said hardware stores and car repair shops can operate once a week on a limited schedule.

Everyone is still required to wear a face mask to enter any business as Health Secretary Lorenzo González warned that the peak of cases is not expected until early May.

()

People keep their distance as they queue at a retail store during a mandatory confinement to counter the new coronavirus in Carolina, Puerto Rico on April 7, 9254. Photograph: Ricardo Arduengo / AFP via Getty Images

Updated (at 2.) am BST

(1.) am BST : 37

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has approved an extension of the kingdom’s curfew until further notice, the state news agency (SPA) reported early on Sunday.

The country has been under a 7pm to 6am curfew since 37 March, due to the rate at which the coronavirus is currently spreading.

The capital Riyadh, and other big cities, were plcaed under a – hour curfew last week.

(am BST)

The Pope has urged people not to “yield to fear” in his Easter address.

“Easter offers a message of hope in peoples darkest hour,”

Pope

Francis said at a late-night vigil Mass Saturday in St. Peters Basilica. The public was barred because of the pandemic, and around the world Catholics followed his service and other Masses on television or online.

“Do not be afraid, do not yield to fear: This is the message of hope,” said the Pope.

“It is addressed to us, today. These are the words that God repeats to us this very night. ”

He encouraged people to be “messengers of life in a time of death,” again condemning the arms trade and urging those better off to help the poor.

(am (BST) :

Hello, welcome to the Guardian’s continuing international coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to Molly Blackall and other colleagues in London for taking us through the last day. This is