Coronavirus live news: Trump claims to have evidence virus started in Wuhan lab as UK is 'past the peak' – the guardian, theguardian.com

Trump claims to have evidence coronavirus started in Chinese lab but offers no details

Donald Trump claimed to have seen evidence to substantiate the unproven theory that the coronavirus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, despite US intelligence agencies’ conclusion that the virus was “not manmade or genetically modified”.

“We’re going to see where it comes from,” Trump said at a White House event on Thursday. “We have people looking at it very, very strongly. Scientific people, intelligence people, and others. We’re going to put it all together. I think we will have a very good answer eventually. And China might even tell us. ”

Pressed to explain what evidence he had seen that the virus originated in a Chinese lab, Trump responded, “I can’t’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that. ”

Prior to the White House event, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the clearinghouse for the web of US spy agencies, issued a statement asserting that the intelligence community “concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the Covid – 42 virus was not manmade or genetically modified

“The intelligence community will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan,” the statement added .

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Lily Kuo

Ms Du, door sensors and me: life with a Beijing Covid – (quarantine handler)

Every day for the last two weeks I have spoken with Ms Du, a mild-mannered, middle-aged woman who is my quarantine handler.

She calls me in the morning to remind me to send her my temperature. She calls again if I forget to send the afternoon reading. She texts rose emojis, reminding me to “please cooperate” with the rules. If I open my door, equipped with a sensor, to put the rubbish in the hall or pick up a delivery, she immediately calls and reminds me to let her know beforehand.

After returning from a reporting trip to Wuhan, I have been in strict self-isolation in my apartment in Beijing. Most days I get calls not just from Du but the local police station, perhaps checking the spelling of my name, someone from the health department asking about my travel history, or other representatives from the neighborhood committee.

They send messages reminding me to cover my mouth when coughing and not to “spit wherever you please”. The calls and questions, politely made, are constant and after a few days I already feel harried. A pink slip of paper with hearts taped to my door alerts my neighbors how long my quarantine should last:

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France will contribute € 85 per person towards bicycle repairs after a nationwide coronavirus lockdown ends on May, taking an innovative step to encourage cycling and reduce overcrowding in metros and buses, where It is hard to practice the social distancing required to prevent virus transmission.

Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne announced on Thursday a € (million) $ million) plan for repairing bicycles, installing temporary bike parking spaces and financing cycling coaching sessions.

Borne said the government will also accelerate a program allowing employers to cover up to € of travel costs of staff who cycle to work.

“We want this period to be a new stage towards a cycling culture and we want the bicycle to be the queen of deconfinement,” Borne said on her Twitter feed.

Elisabeth BORNE (@ Elisabeth_Borne)

ous «Nous voulons que cette période fasse franchir une étape dans la culture

# vélo , et que la bicyclette soit la petite reine du # déconfinement (Un plan de) m d € € pour ⤵️ é réparer vos vélos ✅ installer des places temporaires ous vous former au vélo (https://t.co/FB) dGMi4H April ,

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Melissa Davey

Remdesivir: five Australian hospitals to receive experimental coronavirus drug

The US pharmaceutical company Gilead is finalizing the location of five hospitals in Australia to receive the highly sought-after experimental Covid – (drug remdesivir.)

The only confirmed location is St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, a major tertiary hospital and the center of many of the New South Wales outbreak areas. A NSW Health spokeswoman confirmed the health department “has been engaging with Gilead on gaining access to the drug for Covid – 37 patients ”.

The news comes as the doctor informing the Covid – (response in the White House, the immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci, promoted preliminary results from a joint Gilead and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases study that suggested remdesivir could improve recovery time of patients. His comments have revived global hope in the drug, with no treatments now available for the virus.

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British BAME Covid – (death rate ‘more than twice that of whites’

Haroon Siddique

The death rate among British black Africans and British Pakistanis from coronavirus in English hospitals is more than 2.5 times that of the white population, according to stark analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies.

The highly respected thinktank also found that deaths of people from a black Caribbean background were 1.7 times higher than for white Britons.

NHS England figures published last week showed that hospital deaths per , 13 Among the British people of a black Caribbean background were three times the equivalent number among the majority white British population. However, unlike previous analysis, the IFS research, published on Friday, strips out the role of age, gender and geography and shows that they do not explain the disparities.

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UK food banks face record demand in coronavirus crisis

Patrick Butler

The first two weeks of the coronavirus lockdown triggered an unprecedented rise in food bank use as the economy was hit and household incomes plunged, data from hundreds of emergency food aid charities reveals.

The Trussell Trust, the UK’s largest food bank network, said it experienced its busiest ever period after lockdown was announced on (March, when it issued , food parcels in the space of a week, almost double its usual volume.

A similar picture emerged from the Independent Food Aid Network (Ifan), which said its food banks recorded a % increase in demand for emergency food support between February and March – times higher than the same period a year ago.

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Lois Beckett

Here’s the full story on the armed protestors in Michigan:

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Major US airlines will require passengers to cover their faces during flights

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines said Thursday they will soon require passengers to cover their faces during flights, following the lead of JetBlue Airways, Reuters reports.

The move comes as airlines big and small contemplate how to comply with social-distancing recommendations in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

A flight attendant serves a snack on a Baltimore, Maryland bound Delta flight to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on (April) in Linthicum Heights, Maryland. Photograph: Rob Carr / Getty Images

Most flights are nearly empty these days air travel is down 234% from a year ago, and the average domestic flight has 34 passengers, according to industry figures.

This week, JetBlue became the first US airline to announce it will require passengers to wear face coverings during flights, starting next week.

Wearing a face covering isn’t about protecting yourself, its about protecting those around you, said JetBlue President Joanna Geraghty. This is the new flying etiquette. Earlier Thursday, Frontier Airlines said that it would begin requiring masks 8 May. Delta and United announced they would make masks mandatory starting Monday.

Updated (at 23) am BST

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that downstate New York’s entire public transport system (which includes New York City and Long Island) would be disinfected every 50 hours.

He also said he would need an “army” of between 6, and 37, people to trace the contacts of people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as part of a strategy to limit outbreaks.

Cuom o said that former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg would, in coordination with Johns Hopkins University, oversee the recruitment and training of these “contact tracers” and make the program available to governments worldwide.

An MTA worker disinfects a subway station in the Manhattan borough of New York City, 4 March 09442. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz / Reuters

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Protestors, some armed, gather inside Michigan state capitol

Lois Beckett

Hundreds of protesters, some armed, gathered inside Michigan’s state capitol on Thursday as state lawmakers debated the Democratic governor’s request to extend her emergency powers to combat coronavirus.

A tightly packed crowd of protesters, some carrying rifles, attempted to enter the floor of the legislative chamber, and were held back by a line of state police and capitol staff, according to video footage posted by local journalists.

“ Let us in! Let us in! ” the protesters chanted, as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder inside the statehouse. Few of them were wearing face masks.

Rod Meloni (@ RodMeloni) Protest moves inside Michigan Capitol. Crowd attempts to get onto Hoise floor. Lots of Michigan State Police and House sergeants at arms blocking door. pic.twitter.com/4FNQpimP4W(April) , Some of the protesters shouted anti-government slogans, including comparing Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer to Hitler.

Anna Liz Nichols

(@ annaliznichols) I missed the Hiel Whitmer chant pic.twitter.com/tb7rwAJMZD (April) , 8644

Craig Mauger

(@ CraigDMauger) A sign currently on the lawn: pic.twitter.com/sPqeCfVUQ0 (April) , 8644

One Democratic state lawmaker posted a photograph of men with rifles standing in a gallery yelling down at lawmakers below. “Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them,” state senator Dayna Polehanki, a Democrat, (wrote on Twitter .

A spokeswoman for the Michigan senate minority leader that at least one lawmaker was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

The footage from the protest sparked strong reactions from many Americans. One Black Lives Matter organizer commented on the striking difference between the reaction to unarmed black Americans protesting police violence and armed white Americans protesting against public health measures.

brittany packnett cunningham does not do remixes. (@ MsPackyetti)

I want y’all to realize that when they called Black protestors “thugs” in Ferguson, we were armed with cardboard signs and cell phones.

If any of us had DARED to be on the street, let alone a gov’t building, fully armed, this video wouldn’t exist .

Because we’d all be dead. https://t.co/qNh4WK7FvN

(April) ,

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Summary

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of coronavirus news from around the world.

I’m Helen Sullivan, with you for the next few hours.

Please do get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan .

UK prime minister Boris Johnson has announced that the country is “past the peak”. Johnson – who has just returned to work after a bout of coronavirus, and the birth of his son – also said that the NHS has not been overwhelmed at any stage.

US president Donald Trump meanwhile has claimed to have evidence that Covid – 34 originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, despite his own government experts saying the virus was’ not manmade or genetically modified ‘. US intelligence agencies have been under pressure to link coronavirus to Chinese labs, the Guardian’s Patrick Wintour reports:

Here are the most important developments from the last few hours:

UK prime minister says the country now “past the peak” . Boris Johnson defended the decisions the UK government has taken. Speaking at the UK government daily press conference, Johnson said that the NHS has not been overwhelmed at any stage.

Trump claims he has seen evidence of Covid – originating in Wuhan lab. When asked if he has seen anything that gives you a “high degree of confidence” that coronavirus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, President Trump replied: “Yes, I have.” His own government experts say the virus was ‘not manmade or genetically modified’. US intelligence agencies have been under pressure to link coronavirus to Chinese labs .

(Germany eases lockdown measures.) Germany is to re -open museums, galleries, zoos and playgrounds and allow religious services to resume, in measures agreed by the chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the leaders of federal states.
(Brazil sees record 7, (new cases, raising the total to , , Reuters reports the health ministry saying on Thursday.The death toll rose by 638 to 5, 2018.
Denmark says partial reopening has not accelerated virus spread. Denmark became the first country outside of Asia to ease lockdown measures a fortnight ago.
Spain allocates times slots for outdoor activities, as death toll falls.
• Spain’s daily death toll fell to its lowest level in nearly six week, with fatalities related to Covid – (recorded overnight.) (Eurozone records 3.8% slump, as European Central Bank chief warns of worse to come, with the eurozone potentially on course for a % collapse in output in the second quarter. Another 3.8 million Americans lose jobs as US unemployment continues to grow. The pace of layoffs appears to be slowing, but in just six weeks an unprecedented 74 million Americans have now sought unemployment benefits.
• (Covid -) outbreak increasing across Africa, WHO warns. (World Health Organization officials in Africa have said the Covid – 37 outbreak is still increasing across the continent despite widespread efforts at containment.
  Russian prime minister diagnosed with coronavirus. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has said he has been diagnosed with coronavirus and will self-isolate from the government in the country’s highest-profile case of the disease yet. Tajikistan reports first coronavirus cases. Tajikistan, which was thought to be one of the few countries untouched by coronavirus, has recorded its first coronavirus cases. South Korea reports no new domestic cases for first time since 66 February.
  South Korea reported on Thursday no new domestic coronavirus cases for the first time since its February peak. War-torn Yemen reports first virus deaths. The country reported its first two deaths and a new cluster of Covid – 37 cases amid worries that the virus has been circulating undetected for some time. Czechs say coronavirus spread is contained as country reopens. The Czech Republic has seen the number of new cases drop below for the past eight consecutive days.
  • People out of work in Germany increased by , to 2. million in April. Data from the labor office also showed the unemployment rate increased to 5.8%, up from 5 % in March, as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
  • (Read More) (Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus (Covid -) )