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A worker distributes protective equipment to the Elmhurst Hospital Centre in the Queens borough of New York, US, on March 26, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg

Coronavirus latest: US sees record 6.6 million weekly unemployment claims, as global infections near 1 million

  • Some 6.6 million people in the US have filed claims for unemployment benefits, setting a new record for the second week in a row
  • Global cases are fast rising to hit 1 million, with Spain’s death toll crossing 10,000, and Indonesia recording the highest casualty rate in Asia behind China
The number of workers in the United States filing claims for unemployment benefits last week shot to a record high for a second week in a row – topping 6 million – as the world was approaching 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 6.65 million in the latest week from 3.3 million the previous week, the US Labour Department said on Thursday.

More than 80 per cent of Americans are under some form of lockdown, up from less than 50 per cent a couple of weeks ago, leaving state employment offices overwhelmed by an avalanche of applications.

Economists say the US should brace for jobless claims to continue escalating, partly citing generous provisions of a historic US$2.2 trillion fiscal package signed by President Donald Trump last Friday, and the federal government’s easing of requirements for workers to seek benefits.

Meanwhile, as governments expanded lockdowns that have affected half the planet, global agencies warned that parts of the world could face food shortages if authorities fail to navigate the crisis properly.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said he was “deeply concerned about the rapid escalation and global spread of infection”.
More than 939,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and more than 47,000 have died since it was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Here are other developments:

Spain’s death toll crosses 10,000

A man walks past a public employment office in Madrid, Spain, on April 2, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE
The coronavirus death toll in Spain rose past 10,000 on Thursday after a record 950 deaths in 24 hours, the government said, as the number of confirmed cases passed the 110,000 mark.
Spain has the world’s second-highest death toll after Italy, with the virus so far claiming 10,003 lives, although the rate of new infections and deaths continued its downward trend, the health ministry figures showed.

Europe faces Easter indoors as Spain’s virus cases cross 100,000

“The data show the curve has stabilised” and the epidemic has entered a “slowdown” phase, Health Minister Salvador Illa said.

New coronavirus infections rose by nearly 8 per cent overnight to 110,238.

Government data on Thursday also showed 898,822 workers in Spain have lost their jobs since the country went into lockdown in mid-March, including around 550,000 temporary workers. The tourism and construction sectors are the hardest hit.

“This is an absolutely unprecedented situation,” Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz told a news conference.

“The country is practically paralysed as a result of the health emergency,” Unai Sordo, the leader of Spain’s biggest labour union CCOO, told the TVE broadcaster.

China reports fewer asymptomatic cases

People in Beijing wear masks as they head to work during the morning rush hour on April 2, 2020. Photo: Reuters
Mainland China logged 35 new infections, all of which were imported, the National Health Commission said on Thursday.

Chinese authorities remain concerned about the risks posed by imported cases of Covid-19, and have in recent days banned foreign passport holders from entering and ordered a sharp reduction in the number of international flights.

The number of new asymptomatic cases fell sharply to 55 on April 1 (17 were imported), from 130 the day before.

Coronavirus nightmare of China’s ‘recovered’ patients

Users of Chinese social media have expressed fear that carriers with no symptoms could be spreading the virus unknowingly.

Six more deaths were reported, all in Hubei province, taking the death toll in mainland China to 3,318.

A total of 81,589 have been infected and 76,408 have recovered, according to official figures.

Over 4,000 arrested for violating Malaysia’s lockdown rules

Workers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, disinfect a residential area as part of the efforts exerted to curb the spread of coronavirus. Photo: Bernama/dpa

Malaysia, currently in its 16th day of a partial national lockdown has so far arrested more than 4,000 people and charged 1,449 for breaching lockdown rules.

Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Thursday that some received both fines and jail time, with the most severe sentence being eight months behind bars.

“They were sentenced not for just breaking the [order], but also for going against the police and obstructing the authorities from executing their duties,” said the minister in a televised address.

‘Stop nagging, speak like Doraemon’: Malaysia sorry for sexist virus tips

The arrests came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it expected the number of coronavirus cases in Malaysia to peak in mid-April.

“Based on available data, the WHO Country Office has projected that Malaysia will see a peak in hospitalised cases in mid-April,” Ying-Ru Lo, the WHO’s head of mission and representative to Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore said in emailed comments.

“There are initial signs of flattening of the curve, but this could bounce back if control measures are lifted and if people don’t continue to take protective measures,” she said.

Malaysia has the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia with 3,116 confirmed cases. The country has a recovery rate of 24.6 per cent, with 122 patients discharged so far. It has recorded 45 deaths.

Singapore reports fourth death as cases hit 1,000

People queue to enter a shopping centre in Singapore, as mall capacity is regulated in a series of social distancing measures. Photo: Reuters

Singapore’s number of coronavirus cases on Thursday rose to 1,049, as it confirmed its fourth death from Covid-19 – a 68-year-old Indonesian national who died from complications caused by to the disease.

The health ministry said the man, who died at 6.43am, was a Singapore Work Pass holder who had been in Indonesia from January 20 to March 16. He was had been in intensive care since March 26 and had a history of diabetes and high blood pressure.

Why so few coronavirus infections in Singapore’s health workers?

Infection numbers in Singapore have recently been steadily rising, and many new cases did not seem to have a recent history of travel or any known links with existing Covid-19 patients.

In the latest recorded infections, eight were imported and 41 were local cases with no recent overseas travel history.

The city state has more than a dozen clusters of infections, including a bridal studio, workers’ dormitories, and a nursing home with 11 cases, including a 102-year-old female resident.

The government last week ramped up physical distancing measures to include penalties such as jail time or a fine for those who intentionally do not keep their distance from others.

Group of foreigners barred for refusing to follow South Korea’s quarantine rules

Eight foreigners were denied entry into South Korea for refusing to comply with a mandatory two-week quarantine rule, the Ministry of Justice said on Thursday.

“They were informed in advance at their boarding phase that they would be isolated for quarantine, but they refused to comply with the measure,” the Justice Ministry said, adding they were repatriated immediately after they arrived on Wednesday.

Under toughened rules that took effect on Wednesday, all passengers from abroad are obliged to undergo a 14-day quarantine at their residences or government-designated facilities.

South Korea’s virus response is the opposite of China’s – and it works

According to a pan-government crisis management centre, some 7,600 people, including 3,000 from Europe and the United States, entered the country on Monday. Of the arrivals, 235 showed suspected symptoms, including 11 foreigners and 224 Koreans.

South Korea’s effort to contain the spread of the virus has been considered exemplary, but the flow of imported cases into the country has added to concerns the public was still at heightened risk.

Indonesia frees 18,000 inmates as death toll hits 170

Customers in Jakarta, Indonesia, make transactions through a plastic barrier at a store as a preventive measure against the coronavirus on April 2, 2020. Photo: Reuters
Indonesia has released some 18,000 inmates in a desperate bid to stop the novel coronavirus pandemic from rampaging through its notoriously overcrowded prison system, authorities said on Thursday, as the country recorded the highest Covid-19 death toll in Asia behind China.

The mass release comes days after the nation said it would free more than 30,000 inmates to take pressure off prisons and jails beset by unsanitary conditions and long at risk of infectious diseases.

Prisoners were advised to self quarantine at home after release.

A Covid-19 choice for Indonesian nurses: used hazmat suit or raincoat

The coronavirus death toll in Indonesia rose to 170 on Thursday, passing South Korea as the nation with the highest number of recorded fatalities in Asia after China.

It has confirmed 1,790 infections, while 7,193 tests were performed on Thursday, far fewer than many smaller neighbours.

Meanwhile, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Thursday the government was considering starting a new national holiday to prevent the annual mass exodus usually occurring at the end of the Muslim fasting month amid concerns over the spread of Covid-19.

Anti-Chinese social media ‘more scary than Covid-19’ in Indonesia

Widodo said at a cabinet meeting that measures could be put in place during the new holiday such as making tourist attractions free to help “bring some calm to the people”.

Indonesians, nearly 90 per cent of whom are Muslim, celebrate the end of Ramadan or the Eid al-Fitr festival with a feast and new clothes, usually returning to their home villages or towns.

Ramadan this year falls over April and May.

Thai PM announces nationwide curfew starting April 3

A Buddhist monk has his body temperature checked before entering a temple in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 2, 2020. Photo: Reuters

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Thursday intensified the country’s fight against the novel coronavirus by ordering a nationwide curfew following a surge in infections.

The daily curfew will start on Friday and last from 10pm to 4am with exemptions for essential services, including medical care and the transport of fuel supplies, Prayuth said in a televised address on Thursday.

“This restriction might be an inconvenience but we must adapt to survive,” he said. “Please follow social distancing guidelines. The goal is to contain this outbreak as soon as possible.”

Bangkok closes bars and schools as coronavirus cases spread

Officials escalated curbs on daily life through March as confirmed coronavirus cases in Thailand jumped and the death toll increased. Prayuth has imposed a state of emergency until the end of April, under which social gatherings are banned, domestic travel restricted and all but essential shops shut. The country’s borders are closed to most foreigners.

Curfew violations are punishable by two years in prison and fines of 40,000 baht (US$1,215), according to a government statement.

Thai king remains in Germany during pandemic, prompting criticism online

Meanwhile, the national airline on Thursday said it was suspending all flights from abroad until May 31.

Thai Airways announced that in addition to the flight suspensions, its staff would take salary cuts while being put on leave from this Saturday until the end of May to help practice physical distancing. The airline had already cut most of its flights.

Prayuth on Thursday ordered the Foreign Ministry to take measures to have the embassies slow new endorsements until April 15 because the pace of arrivals was making it hard to enforce isolation rules.

Lufthansa cuts working hours of 87,000 employees

Some 62,000 of Lufthansa’s affected employees are in Germany. Photo: EPA-EFE

European airline giant Lufthansa on Thursday said it had placed 87,000 workers – more than 60 per cent of its workforce – on government-backed shorter hours schemes, as air travel idles amid the coronavirus crisis.

Among the group’s 135,000 employees, cabin crew, ground crew and for the first time, pilots are all affected by the measure, a spokesman said.

Bow ties to face masks: German firms shift gears in virus crisis

Some 62,000 of the employees affected are in Germany, which doubled the number given on Friday of those would work shorter hours until September.

Around 700 of Lufthansa’s 763 aircraft are parked following huge reductions in its flight operations, and its seat capacity is just five per cent of its usual schedule until at least April 19.

Russia’s Putin orders workers to stay at home

Volunteers give a face mask to a food delivery courier in St Petersburg on April 1, 2020. Photo: AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered most Russians to stay off work until the end of the month as part of a partial industrial shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Speaking in a televised address, Putin said he was extending the non-working policy he ordered earlier for this week to remain in force throughout April. All employees would continue earning their regular salaries during the period, he said.

“The threat remains, and experts believe that the epidemic is yet to reach its peak in the world, including our country,” Putin said.

Putin said exceptions for essential industries would keep operating in Russia, and grocery stores and pharmacies would remain open.

Russian officials registered 771 new cases on Thursday, bringing the country’s total to 3,548 infections, with 30 deaths.

Philippines’ Duterte threatens to kill virus troublemakers

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday night threatened in a televised speech to order law enforcers to shoot troublemakers and stop a massive tranche of food and cash aid if people resort to riots and defy a lockdown imposed on millions to fight the coronavirus outbreak. Troublemakers will starve in jails, he warned.

He also said he would ask the police to punish people who attack doctors and health workers with toxic chemicals by dousing the offenders with the potentially lethal substance or force them to drink it.

Leaked data shows Philippine politicians received ‘VIP’ coronavirus testing

Duterte, who has been condemned for his brutal anti-drugs crackdown that has left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead in the Philippines, issued the warnings hours after police broke up a rally by slum dwellers pleading for food aid and arrested 21 of them in suburban Quezon City.

“My orders are for the police, the military and the villages, in case there’s trouble and there’s an occasion where they fight and your life is threatened, shoot them dead,” Duterte said, adding that the viral outbreak “is getting worse”.

Italy deaths still high, lockdown extended to April 13

The coronavirus death toll in Italy has climbed by 727 to 13,155, the Civil Protection Agency said on Wednesday, a significantly smaller increase than seen on Tuesday and the lowest daily tally since March 26.

However, the number of new cases rose more sharply than a day earlier, growing by 4,782 against a previous 4,053, bringing total infections since the outbreak came to light on February 21 to 110,574.

In Lombardy, the epicentre of the outbreak, the daily tallies of deaths and cases were both up compared with those of the day before, reversing the recent trend.

How home to Italy’s biggest Chinese community is beating coronavirus

Of those originally infected nationwide, 16,847 had fully recovered on Wednesday, compared to 15,729 the day before. There were 4,035 people in intensive care, up from a previous 4,023.

Italy has registered more deaths than anywhere else in the world and accounts for around 30 per cent of all global fatalities from the virus.

The nationwide lockdown had been due to expire on April 3, but Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced it would now be extended to April 13 – Easter Monday.

New York deaths double in 72 hours

New York’s Covid-19 death count more than doubled in 72 hours to 1,941 on Wednesday.

One month after New York discovered its first infection – a health care worker returning from Iran – the state tallied more than 83,000 positive cases. The 1,941 deaths were up from 965 Sunday morning. New York logged its first virus-related death March 13, an 82-year-old woman with emphysema.

With more than 12,000 people hospitalised, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the latest outbreak projections show no respite this month.

Coronavirus: China concealed extent of outbreak, US intelligence says

“What we’re looking at now is the apex – the top of the curve – roughly at the end of April, which means another month of this,” Cuomo said.

One model cited by Cuomo projected 16,000 deaths in New York once the outbreak runs its course in the coming months. Though the governor stressed it’s unclear how the pandemic will end.

“Nobody knows what’s going to happen. And I understand the need for closure, the need for control,” he said. “We’re at a place we’ve never been before.”

Australia to airlift doctors onto cruise ships

Australian police and military will soon begin helicoptering doctors to several cruise ships stranded near Sydney to assess nearly 9,000 crew for Covid-19.

The military-style operation, due to begin by the weekend, is aimed at resolving a stand-off between cruise line operators and authorities who fear a wave of new imported coronavirus cases would overwhelm local hospitals.

Australia ordered a ban on all cruise liners in mid-March, but later allowed Australian nationals to disembark from four ships in Sydney – a decision which led to more than 450 new Covid-19 cases in the country.

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“We will drop doctors across eight ships, 9,000 people – it’s a big task in itself,” said Police Commissioner Mick Fuller of New South Wales state, which includes Sydney and where most of the cruise ships are located.

Local media reports say a total of 18 foreign-registered ships are in Australian waters or ports with up to 15,000 crew on board.

Shipowners have reportedly asked that crew stranded on ships be allowed to fly to their home countries.

World climate talks in Scotland delayed

Workers in Glasgow, Scotland, install perimeter fencing at an exhibition centre which is being turned into a temporary hospital to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: PA Wire/dpa
A major UN climate summit scheduled for November in Glasgow, Scotland, has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

This decision was taken jointly by the United Nations, Britain and Italy, the conference said on its official Twitter feed.

“In light of the ongoing, worldwide effects of Covid-19, holding an ambitious, inclusive COP26 in November 2020 is no longer possible,” the statement read further.

Why Europe’s hospitals – among world’s best – are struggling with virus

The climate summit was due to firm up more ambitious climate protection plans.

Governments were expected to present renewed, ambitious commitments to reduce greenhouse gases at the meeting in Glasgow in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The commitments pledged so far are still far from being sufficient to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees, according to the organisers.

US puts federal prisons on 14-day lockdown

The US confined all its federal inmates, nearly 170,000 people, to their cells and wards for at least two weeks to prevent an outbreak of new coronavirus, an especially dire concern in the country with the world’s largest prison population.

At least two inmates have died of the Covid-19 illness so far in one Louisiana penitentiary -the first on Saturday, and a second on Wednesday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The bureau said that at least 57 inmates and 37 guards have been infected throughout the 122 federal penitentiaries so far.

Similar measures taken due to the virus have led to deadly riots in prisons in Italy and Jordan, and escapes in Venezuela and Brazil.

The US has more than 2.2 million people behind bars, more than any other country in the world – the vast majority in state penitentiaries or local jails.

France evacuates virus patients from Paris region

A medical worker looks through the window of a train before it departs to evacuate coronavirus patients from Paris region hospitals to Brittany on April 1, 2020. Photo: Reuters
France recorded 509 deaths of hospitalised coronavirus patients in 24 hours on Wednesday, up from 499 the previous day, as hospitals faced severe demands on their intensive care capacity.

Some 4,032 people have died since the disease first struck. General Health Director Jerome Salomon said that 6,017 people were now in intensive care nationwide suffering from Covid-19.

That was more than the total 5,000 intensive care places the country had in place only weeks ago, Salomon noted. The government is hoping to ramp its total intensive care capacity up to 14,000 or 14,500.

‘When I wake I cry’: France’s nurses face hell on coronavirus front line

Earlier on Wednesday, two specially converted high speed trains left Paris for the west with 36 intensive care patients on board.

The evacuations were the first time the newly converted trains have brought patients out of Paris. They previously evacuated Covid-19 sufferers from eastern France, the hardest-hit region.

Germany extends virus restrictions

A view of an almost deserted shopping street in Düsseldorf, Germany, on April 1, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE

Germany will extend its current restrictions on public life to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus by two weeks until April 19, Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

German authorities on March 22 ordered restaurants shut and banned gatherings of more than two people to slow the spread of Covid-19.

Why does Italy have a much higher coronavirus death toll than Germany?

The restrictions were initially slated to last two weeks, but will now be extended until April 19, to coincide with the end of the Easter school holidays.

Merkel noted that the lengthened period of curbs means families may not be able to visit each other during Easter celebrations in Germany. But she warned that a “pandemic does not recognise holidays”.

Austrian supermarkets hand out face masks

An employee of a supermarket chain distributes protective masks to customers to in Vienna, Austria. Photo: AFP

Austrian supermarkets on Wednesday began handing out basic face masks to largely compliant shoppers before they become compulsory next week, though there remained some confusion about the new measure and uncertainty about its usefulness in fighting the coronavirus.

Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday masks would soon be required in supermarkets and possibly later in public places in general, a cultural shift for a country that introduced a ban on face-coverings like Muslim veils 18 months ago in the wake of Europe’s migration crisis.

Neighbouring Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which have far fewer cases, have introduced a more sweeping measure, making face masks compulsory outside the home. Support for wearing masks in public appears to be rising across Europe.

Virus boosts Europe’s cocaine traffic

South American drug kingpins attempted to flood Europe with cocaine last month in hopes of getting ahead of the coronavirus shutdown that has closed one of the trade’s biggest markets, a top Belgian official said on Wednesday.

The theory is from Belgium’s top customs official, Kristian Vanderwaeren, after a series of extraordinary seizures in a country considered Europe’s main import hub of cocaine through the sprawling port of Antwerp.

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“The mafia in South America organised itself and placed as much product as possible in containers, knowing that shipping traffic to Europe will decrease in the coming months,” said Vanderwaeren, Belgium’s customs administrator general.

At the port of Antwerp, a total of more than 1.6 tonnes of cocaine was intercepted in just three seizures. In another surprise, a stash of nearly 350kg of the white powder was seized on March 16 at Brussels national airport on a flight from the Dominican Republic.

Israel’s health minister has virus

Israel’s Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus. Photo: AP

Israel’s health minister, who has had frequent contact with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials, has the new coronavirus.

Yaakov Litzman and his wife, who also tested positive, are in isolation, feel well and are being treated, the statement said. Requests to enter isolation will be sent to those who came in contact with the minister in the past two weeks, the announcement said.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency and the National Security Council were asked to go into isolation because of their contacts with Litzman. Netanyahu had gone into isolation previously after a top aide tested positive for the virus, but Netanyahu has so far tested negative.

Israel, which has gone into near-lockdown, has reported just over 6,000 confirmed cases and 26 deaths. All Israelis must wear face masks while in public.

Kuwaiti star’s expat ban call triggers uproar

A labourer has his temperature checked before entering a construction site in Ahmadi, Kuwait. Photo: Reuters

A famous Kuwaiti actress has sparked a furore by calling for expatriates to be expelled from the oil-rich nation so that locals can be sure of having a hospital bed if they fall ill with coronavirus.

Hayat al-Fahad, 71, who is known for playing a range of roles in Arabic dramas, told a local television station that foreigners in the country should be kicked out during the health crisis.

“We are fed up. If we get sick, there are no hospitals [for us],” she said during a telephone interview on Tuesday. “Why, if their countries do not want them, should we deal with them? Aren’t people supposed to leave during crises?

“We should send them out … put them in the desert. I am not against humanity, but we have reached a stage where we’re fed up.”

Many people online criticised the actress’ comments, with one Twitter user saying it was “so unacceptable”.

“How many Kuwaitis are outside Kuwait at the moment? Should everyone also apply her logic when it comes to them?” another person posted. Kuwait has recorded some 317 cases of the Covid-19 disease so far, with no deaths, and there are no accounts of its medical system being overstretched.

Reporting by Park Chankyong, Tashny Sukumaran, Kok Xinghui, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, DPA and Bloomberg

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