Coronavirus latest: US death toll tops 100,000, cases continue to surge in Latin America

Unthinkable just four months ago, the United States on Wednesday surpassed the grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths, as the pandemic tightened its grip on Latin America. With the European Union unveiling a massive recovery plan to step up its emergence from the crisis, the catastrophic US figure was a reminder of the devastation being wreaked across the ocean all over the hard-hit Americas. Confirmed US deaths stood at 100,442, with almost 1.7 million infections, according to the tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University. South America, especially its largest nation, Brazil, has raised fresh alarm. We have just reached a very sad milestone with the coronavirus pandemic deaths reaching 100,000. To all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy & love for everything that these great people stood for & represent. God be with you! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2020 While many Western nations are creeping back toward some form of normality, the virus has continued its march in Latin America, which is outpacing Europe and the US in daily infections. Europe meanwhile has slowly started reopening businesses as outbreaks on the continent slow, but Italy and Spain lack the firepower of richer European nations to rebuild their economies. The EU unveiled a historic, €750 billion (US$825 billion) recovery plan to get the continent back on its feet. It follows other unprecedented emergency measures introduced around the world to rescue economies shattered by the disease, which has claimed more than 355,000 lives as infections top 5.6 million. Here are the developments: China reports only two new cases China announced two new cases of coronavirus, both from abroad, on Thursday as it moves to close the annual session of its ceremonial legislature that had been delayed for more than two months by the outbreak. No new deaths were reported and just 73 people remained in treatment, while another 518 remain under isolation and observation for either suspected of having the virus or testing positive without showing any symptoms. China has reported a total of 4,634 deaths from Covid-19 among 82,995 cases. The National People’s Congress is to conclude its meetings later Thursday with a news conference given by Premier Li Keqiang. Delegates to the congress have worn masks during full meetings at the Great Hall of the People although leaders such as Li and President Xi Jinping have generally gone without. On Wednesday, the congress’s advisory body held its closing session at which its chairperson, Wang Yang, said it came at an “important time when major strategic achievements have been made by China in fighting Covid-19 and when China is endeavouring to secure a decisive victory in completing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects”. UK launches ‘track and trace’ England launched a “test and trace” system on Thursday, the latest weapon deployed in a battle to halt the coronavirus’s spread in one of the worst affected countries in the world. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was people’s “civic duty” to comply with the new rules which will seek to track down people at risk from the disease. “It’s incredibly important for anybody who gets symptoms ... immediately to isolate at home and to get a test and not to leave the house,” he told BBC radio. Under the system, a team of 25,000 tracers – supported by 20,000 testers and up to 7,000 clinicians – will text, email or call people who test positive for the virus and ask who they have been in close contact with. Anybody thought to be at risk of infection will have to self-isolate, even if they have no symptoms. For those who test positive, a clinician will immediately ask them whom they have been in “close contact” with – who will also be asked to self-isolate. Close contact in this case means being within two metres of someone for 15 minutes, or within one metre face-to-face, Hancock said. The government aims to be able, initially, to trace the contacts of 10,000 people a day. Sri Lanka to reimpose partial lockdown Sri Lanka will reimpose selective lockdown restrictions from Sunday to restrict large gatherings after recording its biggest daily surge in coronavirus infections – most found in citizens repatriated last week from Kuwait. The island nation on Tuesday lifted a shutdown on the capital and a neighbouring district, two weeks after easing it in other parts of the nation. But after more than 250 returnees from Kuwait were found to be infected with coronavirus, authorities decided to impose lockdowns on days when crowds were likely to form – including the planned funeral of a popular minister. The health ministry said that out of 460 Sri Lankans who returned from Kuwait this week, some 252 had tested positive for coronavirus. All the returnees were being held in quarantine. Officials said the lockdown will apply on Sunday, the day of the funeral of tea plantation trade union leader and government minister Arumugam Thondaman, who died on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of mourners from his Ceylon Workers Congress party had been expected to attend. It will then be lifted until Thursday, when it will be imposed again for two days to coincide with a Buddhist holiday. Israel tests 100,000 to prevent second wave Israel has launched a campaign to test 100,000 people for novel coronavirus antibodies as the country prepares for a possible “second wave” of cases, a top official said on Thursday. The initiative is one of the world’s largest such schemes and aims to test Israel’s “collective immunity” against the Covid-19 disease. “We have started ... It should not be too long before we see some interesting trends,” said Yair Schindel, a senior official on the government’s task force tackling the pandemic. The government is trying to determine how widely the virus has spread and who is most at risk going forward. In parallel to the national campaign, authorities are also running separate surveys of “high-risk areas”. Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, while other focus groups include hospital staff treating coronavirus patients. “We need to understand how many of them were actually exposed and created antibodies,” said Schindel, who co-founded aMoon, a venture capital firm specialising in biomedical start-ups. The World Health Organisation, however, said last month there is no evidence that those who have recovered from Covid-19 are protected from future infection. South Korea wary after cases jump South Korea reimposed some social distancing measures on Thursday, as a series of clusters threatened to challenge its success in containing the epidemic. Museums, parks and art galleries in the Seoul metropolitan area will all be closed again for two weeks from Friday, said health minister Park Neung-hoo, while companies were urged to readopt flexible working practices, among other measures. “We have decided to strengthen all quarantine measures in the metropolitan area for two weeks from tomorrow to June 14,” he said. South Korea reported 79 new cases of Covid-19, its biggest daily jump in more than 50 days. The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said 67 of the new cases were reported from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea’s 51 million people live. The national totals were at 11,344 cases and 269 deaths. The country had reported 40 new cases on Wednesday, which was its highest figure in 49 days. Park during a virus meeting pleaded all residents in the greater capital area to avoid unnecessary gatherings and urged companies keep sick employees off work. At least 69 infections so far have been linked to workers at a massive warehouse operated by local e-commerce giant Coupang. Health authorities say the company likely didn’t enforce preventive measures such as masks at the facility in Bucheon, near Seoul, and may have had employees working even when sick. Philippines to ease 11-week Manila lockdown Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday approved a recommendation to ease the lockdown in the capital Manila from June 1, resuming much-needed activity in an economy on the brink of recession. “We are not happy to put you in this place, but after review, maybe we can,” Duterte said in a televised address, adding that the quarantined areas will be reviewed from time to time as the need arises. “Remember that . . . the entire nation is still under quarantine. Let us move to the so-called new normal.” Strict restrictions on commerce and movement since mid-March have ravaged the economy, which is facing its deepest contraction in 34 years. Manila’s lockdown will this weekend surpass the 76-day quarantine of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the first outbreak of the highly infectious novel coronavirus was detected. The recommendation came even as daily infections this week were the highest since April 6. Confirmed cases in the past six days comprise nearly 11 per cent of the total 15,049 recorded, of which 904 led to deaths. The easing could help to reduce damage to an economy that unexpectedly shrank 0.2 per cent in the first quarter and is expected to fare worse in the second quarter. Under the more relaxed rules that will be in place from June 1-15, local officials can still place communities deemed as high risk under lockdown. Low risk of second wave in China but stay on guard, Zhong Nanshan says Fauci wears mask as ‘symbol’ while Trump, Biden spar Top US infectious disease specialist Dr Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday that he wears a mask as a “symbol” of what “you should be doing” during the coronavirus pandemic. “I want to protect myself and protect others, and also because I want to make it be a symbol for people to see that that’s the kind of thing you should be doing,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN. When asked by host Jim Sciutto if his wearing of a mask encouraged their use, Fauci acknowledged masks aren’t “100 per cent effective” but are a “valuable safeguard” and part of “respect for another person”. Masks have become a political flashpoint as US President Donald Trump and former vice-president Joe Biden sparred over the wearing of face coverings. Trump called a reporter “politically correct” for wearing a mask during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday and shared a post on his Twitter feed mocking Biden for wearing a face mask when he observed Memorial Day. Biden hit back, calling Trump a “fool”. Wearing a mask “projects leadership. Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine”, Biden said on CNN. US officials have recommended that people cover their nose and mouth in public when other measures, such as practising social distancing of at least 1.8 metres (six feet), are not possible. Trump, however, refuses to wear a mask in public, and polls have found that conservative Americans are more likely to forgo them as well. Brazil deaths top 25,000 Brazil’s death toll from the new coronavirus surpassed 25,000 on Wednesday, as the country emerged as the latest epicentre in the global pandemic. The health ministry said it had confirmed 1,086 new deaths in the past 24 hours. It was the fifth time the number exceeded 1,000 since the crisis accelerated in Brazil a week ago. That pushed the nationwide death toll to 25,598, the sixth-highest in the world. The country of 210 million people now has 411,821 confirmed cases of the virus, second only to the United States. Experts say under-testing means the real figures are probably much higher. President Jair Bolsonaro is facing mounting criticism over his response to the health crisis. The far-right leader has played down the seriousness of the virus and railed against stay-at-home measures, arguing the economic fallout risks causing more damage than the virus itself. “The so-called second wave is coming: recession. It will affect everyone, without exception,” he wrote on Facebook. But most state governments have stuck to the World Health Organisation’s guidance and closed non-essential businesses. Singapore adds 373 new cases Singapore’s health ministry said on Thursday that it had confirmed 373 more coronavirus cases, taking the city state’s tally to 33,249. The vast majority of the new cases are work permit holders living in foreign worker dormitories. There are no new cases involving Singaporeans or permanent residents. Only 23 people have died in Singapore after contracting Covid-19, one of the world’s lowest death tolls. The government has said it will test all 320,000 migrants living in the dormitories and has promised to rehouse them when the pandemic subsides. Five die in fire in Bangladesh hospital Covid-19 unit Five people were killed in a top Bangladesh hospital on Wednesday after a fire swept through a makeshift coronavirus isolation unit, officials said. The blaze occurred in Dhaka’s posh Gulshan neighbourhood and comes as the country faces a rising number of coronavirus cases. Fire service official Kamrul Hasan said the fire began when an air conditioner exploded in a shed belonging to United Hospital. The blaze quickly raced through the unit due to the presence of flammable items such as sanitiser. The pandemic has worsened in Bangladesh in recent weeks, with the death toll hitting 544 and nearly 40,000 people infected. The government this week ordered most of its state-run hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients. Previously only a handful of public and private hospitals were treating the virus. Health experts say the number of actual cases and fatalities in Bangladesh is likely much higher, and that the government figures are limited due to low testing levels. Africa’s young and rural population may limit spread and severity of coronavirus Red Cross reports more than 200 attacks The Red Cross said more than 200 violent attacks on health workers connected with the Covid-19 crisis had been reported across more than a dozen countries since the pandemic began. The International Committee of the Red Cross joined 12 other global medical and humanitarian organisations, representing more than 30 million medical professionals, to issue a declaration condemning growing attacks on health workers and facilities. “The sad reality is that health workers have for a long time been subject to many shocking forms of violence,” the declaration said. While hailing recent displays of support for Covid-19 responders, it lamented that “many responders are nevertheless experiencing harassment, stigmatisation and physical violence”. “Some health care professionals and the people they were caring for have even been killed,” the declaration said, pointing to at least 208 such violent incidents since the beginning of the pandemic. ICRC stressed that the number only covered the attacks that had been reported, warning that “the actual numbers are likely much higher”. GSK to produce 1 billion doses of vaccine booster GlaxoSmithKline will expand production of vaccine efficacy boosters, or adjuvants, to produce 1 billion doses in 2021 for use in shots for Covid-19, the British drug maker said on Thursday. The London-listed company said it was in talks with governments on backing for the programme, which would effectively allow for a scaling up of production of future successful vaccines for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. GSK is one of several companies in the race to develop a vaccine for the respiratory illness that currently has no treatment and has already killed about 350,000 people. The British drug maker is working on its own Covid-19 vaccine with Sanofi. Adjuvants have been shown to create a stronger and longer-lasting immunity against infections. GSK’s adjuvant can reduce the amount of vaccine protein required per dose, which would allow for more vaccines to be made, the British drug maker said. Another cruise crew member in virus limbo dies of suicide A cruise ship crew member died last week of self-inflicted harm, the US Coast Guard said Wednesday as it confirmed the latest in a series of apparent suicides among such workers trapped at sea because of the coronavirus pandemic. A 32-year-old Filipino worker on a ship called Scarlet Lady, the only cruise ship owned by Virgin Voyages, died of “apparent self-harm”. The ship was to have made its maiden voyage in March but it was cancelled because of the pandemic, so the vessel has been in limbo off the coast of Florida ever since, with its crew trapped on board. A specialised blog called Cruise Law News, said he worked as a cleaner in the ship’s living quarters for guests. In May alone, at least six cruise ship crew members around the world died of causes not related to the pandemic. Five of them were apparently cases of suicide. Cruise ship lines face daunting logistical challenges to repatriate tens of thousands of crew members who have not set foot on dry land in more than two months and have been living at sea in limbo. Many have no word on when they might return home. Denmark develops robot to conduct tests Danish researchers have developed a robot capable of carrying out Covid-19 screening tests, the University of Southern Denmark announced. Using a 3D-printed disposable arm that is automatically swapped after every patient, the robot takes a throat swab and then places the sample in a jar, the research laboratory explained. “Robotics researchers … have developed the world’s first fully automatic robot capable of carrying out throat swabs for Covid-19, so that health care professionals are not exposed to the risk of infection,” the university said. The robot is currently in prototype form, but a model for use in the field is under construction, project leader Thiusius Rajeeth Savarimuthu said. Europe announces US$825 billion recovery fund to help countries survive recession New Russia directive on asymptomatic patients Russia’s Health Ministry said that people with Covid-19 who aren’t showing symptoms shouldn’t be included in the coronavirus statistics. The ministry said in a directive released Wednesday that such asymptomatic patients must be counted under a separate registration code and not be included in the Covid-19 toll. Russia currently ranks third in the world behind the United States and Brazil in the number of coronavirus patients, with more than 370,000 cases, including 3,968 deaths. Officials have said that asymptomatic patients recently accounted for nearly half of all cases. The nation’s comparatively low coronavirus death toll has raised suspicions among experts in Russia and in the West that the authorities might have manipulated statistics to lower mortality for political reasons. Russian officials have angrily rejected the allegations, charging that the low toll was a result of sweeping preventive measures, broad testing and efficient treatment. Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Tribune News Service