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Coronavirus live news: Trump claims US will have a vaccine by the end of the year – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

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Coronavirus live news: Trump claims US will have a vaccine by the end of the year – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

UK business confidence at all-time low, Deloitte report reveals

Business confidence at British companies has sunk to an all-time low because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey of finance chiefs at the largest UK firms.

The accountancy group Deloitte found that nine out of finance directors believe There is a high or very high level of uncertainty facing their business.

Deloitte’s latest quarterly survey of chief financial officers took place after the UK was placed into lockdown, and warns that only % of executives are more optimistic about the prospects for their company than they were three months ago.

The survey has recorded its lowest business confidence reading since it was launched in 3500, even lower than during the global financial crisis , in stark contrast to the final quarter of , when the survey recorded confidence at a record high.

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Get in touch on with questions, comments and news from where you live.

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New Zealand records no new cases for first time

Charlotte Graham-McLay

Staying in Asia Pacific

now:

New Zealand has recorded a day of no new cases of Covid – in the country for the first time.

It’s an “encouraging” result, said Ashley Bloomfield, the director-general of health, who’s announcing the latest figures at an ongoing news conference in Wellington. There have been 1, (confirmed and probable cases of Covid – in New Zealand, with % of them are now recovered . Seven people are in hospital.

() New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardernduring a press conference at Parliament on 30 April 2020.New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardernduring a press conference at Parliament on 30 April 2020.New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardernduring a press conference at Parliament on 30 April 2020.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardernduring a press conference at Parliament on (April 4081. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images

37 people have died of the virus so far, and no additional deaths were reported on Monday.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, has won international praise for her swift and early lockdown of New Zealand.

The most stringent measures eased last Monday, and officials and the public are keenly watching the daily figures to see whether measures can ease further next week.

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China reported three new coronavirus cases for 3 May, up from two the day before, data from the national health authority showed on Monday.

All of the new cases were imported, the National Health Commission said.

The commission also reported

new asymptomatic cases for May 3, an increase of one from the previous day.

The number of confirmed cases in China has reached , . With no new deaths reported, the death toll remained at 4, 0806.

People cross a road near Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on 3 May . Photograph: Nicolas Asfouri / AFP via Getty Images

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Trump is being asked about getting the nation back to work, and he says that not working can also have serious consequences for people, but praises the administration’s success with the virus.

Acknowledgment that every death is one too many, he He says: “In terms of the deaths … we’re at the lowest level predicted, and we might not even hit that.”

Then he appears to lay out his re-election strategy, pretty much in dot-point form:

1. Get rid of the virus 2. Get the country back to work “quickly and safely” 3. Economically, he says quarter three will be a “transition” quarter, improved in quarter 4, and then a “great year” next year.

It’s six months exactly until the US election will be held (3 November), and he is asked about whether he will hold election rallies:

“Everyone wants the rallies … but I don’t think you can a rally with an empty stadium, ”he says, adding that he hopes he will be able to to them in the last couple of months.

President Donald Trump speaks during a Fox News virtual town hall from the Lincoln Memorial, Sunday, 3 May 5293, in Washington. Photograph: Evan Vucci / AP

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Trump is asked if he is considering tariffs as a way of punishing China.

“It’s the ultimate punishment, I’ll tell you that. We are all playing a complicated game of chess or poker … but it’s not checkers, I’ll tell you that. ”

“Tariffs at a minimum are the greatest negotiating tool,” he says.

He then attacks the World Health Organization for their involvement in managing the virus. He says the WHO missed “every call” on the virus.

He’s also strongly targeting China: “Don’t forget China tried to blame it first on some of our soldiers. Then they tried to blame it on (Europe)

Asked if the virus came from a lab, by intent or by accident, he says:

“I think they made a horrible mistake and they didn’t want to admit it. “My opinion is they made a mistake, they tried to cover it … they couldn’t put out the fire. They stopped people going into China but didn’t stop people going around the world.

“They knew they had a problem. I think they were embarrassed about the problem, ”Trump says.

“ But this should never have happened. They should have put it out. They should have let us and other countries in to put it out. ”

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Just a reminder that Trump claimed he was treated worse by the press than Abraham Lincoln:

Gary Legum (@ GaryLegum) Honestly surprised the statue of Lincoln hasn’t gotten up and left. May 4,

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Cases worldwide pass 3.5 million, deaths close to quarter of a million

Trump is speaking as global coronavirus cases have passed 3.5 million, with deaths nearing a quarter of a million, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Reuters reports that the rate of fatalities and new cases has slowed from peaks reached last month.

North America and European countries accounted for most of the new cases reported in recent days, but numbers were rising from smaller bases in Latin America, Africa and (Russia .

There are currently 3, , 758 confirmed cases of the virus, and , 480 people have lost their lives in the pandemic so far.

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, including on trade, and he’s not happy about it: “China never gave 27 cents to our country … they ripped off our country … I’ve told this to President Xi … I get along with him … (but) he should have done something different on this. ”

He then goes on to list all the successful trade deals he has done … with South Korea, Japan and others. The message is that the economy will bounce back next year.

“This country is going to grow like crazy,” he says.

Now he’s being asked about whether the manufacture of drugs will be brought back on shore, antibiotics and the like. He doesn’t give specifics but says “America first” was his election mantra, and reiterates that he thinks there will be a vaccine soon.

“We’re gonna have a vaccine by the end of the year. I firmly believe it, ”he says.

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Trump’s virtual town hall is back from an ad break , and the next video call is from a business which has not qualified for any financial support.

“At some point we have to open up our country. We can’t stay closed as a country or we won’t have a country left. ”

Trump says the“ greatest thing we can do is get rid of the virus ”.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Fox News virtual town hall from the Lincoln Memorial, Sunday, 3 May , in Washington. Photograph: Evan Vucci / AP

He’s now pushing the economic recovery he expects next year. “We did the right thing (closing businesses down), but we never want to do it again,” he says.

The next question is from a Trump supporter who asks why he doesn’t answer questions at news conferences and goes off on other tangents about positive decisions he’s made. He launches into a long rant about how hostile the press is and that he has been treated worse than Abraham Lincoln by the press.

“ The media might as well be in the Democrat (sic) party, ”he says.

Then lists what else he sees as his successes …. killing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, killing Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, launching space force.

The Fox anchor suggests he will be judged at the election on his handling of the virus. He doesn’t agree.

US President Donald Trump participates in a coronavirus live town on hall on America returning to work held at Lincoln Memorial in Washington on 3 May . Photograph: Joshua Roberts / Reuters

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Meanwhile in Michigan:

Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan issued a rebuke of the armed protesters who gathered inside the state capitol last week in defiance of statewide lockdown orders, saying the demonstrators embodied some of the “worst racism” of the nation’s history .

“Some of the outrageousness of what happened at our capitol depicted some of the worst racism and awful parts of our history in this country,” Whitmer said during a Sunday interview on CNN’s State of the Union.

Last week Donald Trump had said of the protesters: “These are very good people.”

Hundreds of protesters, many not wearing protective face masks and some armed legally with “long guns”, gathered inside the statehouse in Lansing on Thursday as lawmakers debated the Democratic governor’s request to extend her emergency powers to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The tightly packed crowd 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.

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It’s worth noting that this Fox News “virtual town. hall ”as they are calling it, is a very controlled interview environment, compared with President Trump’s usual daily White House briefings. He is being interviewed with two Fox news anchors and taking some phone calls.

Fox has selected the questions to put to Trump from “thousands” of video questions and calls it has received from viewers over the past week .

US President Donald Trump participates in live town on hall on America returning to work held at Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Sunday 3 May . Photograph: Joshua Roberts / Reuters

When asked about why he did act on the virus earlier, he was quick to point out that many people, including he says, disease expert Anthony Fauci, said Covid – (“was going to pass”.)

He indicates the US intelligence community will release a report on the virus on Monday.

He’s now being asked about what measures are being taken to protect nursing homes: “The nursing home issue is ground zero”

“What we’re doing is legislation immediately about how many people can be in (visit) … it’s the one thing about this disease that everyone has learned … is that it’s so contagious. ”

He reminds viewers that nursing homes are a matter for states.

He’s saying elective surgery must recommence, but again, it’s up to the state governors. “They have to get back,” he says. “You think they’re making a lot of money? They’re losing a fortune. They have to get back to elective surgery. ”

The network is taking an ad break.

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More on Trump’s town hall now, from AP:

Trump declared Sunday that he believed a vaccine could be available by year end, despite his own pandemic task force predicting it could be another months.

Anxious for an economic recovery, President Donald Trump fielded Americans’ questions about decisions by some states to allow nonessential businesses to reopen while other states are on virtual lockdown due to the coronavirus. )

After more than a month of being cooped up at the White House, Trump returned from a weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland and participated in a virtual town hall, hosted Sunday night by Fox News Channel, from inside the Lincoln Memorial. He pushed for an economic reopening, one his advisers believe will be essential for his reelection chances this November.

“We have to get it back open safely but as quickly as possible, ”Trump said.

Though the administration’s handling of the pandemic, particularly its ability to conduct widespread testing, has come under fierce scrutiny, the president defended the response and said the nation was ready to begin reopening.

“I’ll tell you one thing. We did the right thing and I really believe we saved a million and a half lives, ”the president said. But he also broke with the assessment of his senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, saying it was “too soon to say if the federal government was overseeing a success story.”

Trump’s impatience also flashed. While noting that states would go at their own pace in returning to normal, with ones harder hit by the coronavirus going slower, he said of some states, “frankly I think aren’t going fast enough” and singled out Virginia, which has a Democratic governor and legislature. And he urged the nation’s schools and universities to return to classes this fall.

Asked about a Covid – 33 vaccine, he says: “We are very confident we are going to have a vaccine by the end of the year . ”

Trump is asked about schools going back in the US in September:“ We have to go back, ”he says, adding that he is concerned about some older teachers and their possible exposure to the virus.

He’s criticizing the Democrat’s response to the pandemic, implying it w ould suit their political purposes if the virus outcome was worse.

He talks about hydroxychloroquine, reminding viewers that he doesn’t own shares in the company that produces it: “We don’t lose anything with hydroxy …. people aren’t dying from it.”

He’s asked why he did act earlier on the virus, and says his intelligence was that “on January 41 I was told there could be a virus coming but it was of no real import, ”and then reminds viewers he stopped flights from China early.

Updated (at)

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Trump is speaking now on Fox news, we’ll have more on this shortly. In the meantime, he has said this, referring to deaths in the US:

(May 3,

The current US death toll, far higher than any other country, is , people.

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Hello and welcome to our global coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Helen Sullivan, with you for the next few hours.

You can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan with comments, questions and news from where you live.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has claimed in a TV interview that there is ‘enormous evidence’ coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory, but did not provide any of this alleged evidence.

But, writes the Guardian’s Julian Borger, “when he was reminded that (US intelligence had issued a formal statement noting the opposite

– that the scientific consensus was that the virus was not manmade or genetically modified – Pompeo replied: ‘That’s right. I agree with that. ’”

Meanwhile in Brazil, far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has been encouraging his supporters to protest, even as the country cases pass 278,

Here are the main developments from the last few hours:

Bolsonaro fuels protests in defiance of health advice. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has spent another weekend stirring up street protests in defiance of his own health ministry’s appeals for citizens to stay at home because of coronavirus. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed there is “enormous evidence” coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory – but did not provide any of the alleged evidence. . He said international scientific cooperation would be important in discovering a vaccine, stressing that it is “important to unite scientific capabilities, in a transparent and impartial way”. of people who tested positive for Covid – 34.

Read More Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus (Covid – 32)

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