Trump was asked during a White House news conference on Monday whether an American president deserved to be re-elected after losing more Americans in six weeks than died in the Vietnam war. Approximately 58,000 US troops were killed during the war.

“It’s far too many – one person is too many for this,” he added on the death toll, before taking credit for preventing more fatalities with his travel bans on foreign nationals from China and Europe.

Several US states have reopened businesses amid predictions that the jobless rate could hit 16 per cent for April.

Well over half of all deaths are in Europe, with the toll hitting 126,233 on the continent Monday.

With some of Europe’s worst-hit nations reporting drops in daily death counts, governments are exploring how to relax confinement orders exacting their own damaging economic and psychological tolls.

In Asia, which accounts for just under 7 per cent of all cases, some countries are struggling to keep new infections in check. They include Japan and Singapore, which saw cases rise in April despite earlier successful efforts to slow the spread.

Others in the region have managed to rein in outbreaks, including South Korea, which has reported around 10 cases a day in the past week, down from a peak of over 1,000 in February.

Mainland China reported 6 new coronavirus cases for April 27, up from three reported a day earlier, putting its total number of Covid-19 infections to date at 82,836. The total number of deaths in the mainland from remained unchanged at 4,633

Here are the developments:

Next year’s Olympics could be ‘cancelled’

The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be cancelled if the coronavirus pandemic isn’t brought under control by next year, the organising committee’s president said in comments published Tuesday.

The pandemic has already forced a year-long delay of the Games, which are now scheduled to open on July 23, 2021, but Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori said no further postponement was possible.

In an interview with Japan’s Nikkan Sports daily, Mori was categorical when asked if the Olympics could be delayed until 2022 if the pandemic remains a threat next year, replying: “No”.

“In that case, it’s cancelled,” Mori said.

Mori said the Games had been cancelled previously only during wartime and compared the battle against coronavirus to “fighting an invisible enemy”.

If the virus is successfully contained, “we’ll hold the Olympics in peace next summer”, he added. “Mankind is betting on it.”

Under heavy pressure from athletes and sports associations, Japanese organisers and the International Olympic Committee agreed in March to a year-long postponement of the Games.

A Japanese medical expert who has criticised the country’s response to the coronavirus warned that he was “very pessimistic” that the postponed Olympics can be held in 2021.

Singapore doubles daily testing

Singapore reported 528 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday – the lowest in more than a week – bringing the total number of infections to 14,951.

Only eight of the fresh cases are Singapore citizens and residents, according to preliminary figures released by the health ministry, with work permit holders living in dormitories making up the vast majority.

On Monday, the ministry confirmed 799 new infections, with 931 on Sunday and 618 on Saturday, but last week Tuesday it reported a record high of 1,426 new cases.

Singapore also reported two more deaths on Monday, taking its total number of deaths to 14.

The city state, which has the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, extended its partial lockdown to June 1 to curb the spread of the virus

It has also doubled its daily testing capacity for the coronavirus and can conduct more than 8,000 tests a day, the health ministry said on Monday. To date, it has tested about 2,100 per 100,000 people, which the government says is higher than the US and UK, which have tested 1,600 and 1,000 per 100,000 people respectively.

Separately, the trade-dependent country’s central bank warned that an impending recession could be deeper than forecast as the protracted nature of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to hamper a decisive rebound in global activity. Singapore’s current forecast for GDP is -4 per cent to -1 per cent.

“There remains significant uncertainty over the severity of the downturn, as well as the eventual recovery,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in its semi-annual macroeconomic review.

The pandemic knocked Singapore’s economy in the first quarter, when it shrank 2.2 per cent – its sharpest contraction since the 2009 financial crisis. Unemployment is expected to rise and wages are expected to fall, economists have said.

Coronavirus: why so few deaths among Singapore’s 14,000 infections?

Trump says US may seek damages from China

US President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that he may seek damages from China over the coronavirus outbreak which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan and spread around the world.

“We are not happy with China,” Trump said at a White House briefing. “We are not happy with that whole situation because we believe it could have been stopped at the source.

“It could have been stopped quickly and it wouldn’t have spread all over the world,” he said.

“There are a lot of ways you can hold them accountable,” Trump said. “We’re doing some very serious investigations as you probably know.”

Trump was asked about a recent German newspaper editorial which called on China to pay Germany US$165 billion in reparations because of economic damage done by the virus.

Asked if the US would consider doing the same, the US president said “we can do something much easier than that.”

Germany is looking at things, we are looking at things,” he said. “We are talking about a lot more money than Germany’s talking about.”

Trump cuts US research on bat-human transmission over ties to Chinese lab

“We haven’t determined the final amount yet,” Trump said. “It’s very substantial. This is worldwide damage. This is damage to the US, but this is damage to the world.”

That came as The Washington Post reported that Trump was repeatedly warned about the dangers of the novel coronavirus in intelligence briefings in January and February.

The president, who officials told the Post often does not read the briefings and bristles at having to listen to oral summaries, failed to mobilise for a major pandemic.

In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesman on Tuesday accused US politicians of “telling barefaced lies”, without naming Trump specifically, and of ignoring their “own serious problems”.

“American politicians have repeatedly ignored the truth and have been telling barefaced lies,” Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular press briefing. “They have only one objective: shirk their responsibility for their own poor epidemic prevention and control measures, and divert public attention.”

Britain learns deaths in care homes were under-reported

A surge in deaths at care homes from suspected Covid-19 contributed to a record number of deaths in England and Wales to mid-April, according to new data published on Tuesday.

The Office for National Statistics said 22,351 deaths were registered in the week ending April 17 – up 3,835 from the previous week and 11,854 more than the five-year average in the highest weekly total since 1993.

The publication, which does not include deaths in Scotland and Northern Ireland, comes amid concern about under-reporting of deaths from coronavirus, as Britain currently only publishes daily tolls of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in hospital.

The ONS said 21,284 deaths in England alone up until April 17 were due to coronavirus, compared with the official announcement on that day from National Health Service England of 13,917.

The government announced on Monday that 21,092 who tested positive for coronavirus had died in hospital across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which collates deaths in English care homes, said 4,343 mentioning Covid-19 had been registered up until April 24, although there is usually a “two to three days” lag in reporting.

Bangkok prepares gradual reopening

Authorities in Thailand’s capital plan to lift coronavirus curbs over the next few days or weeks for some businesses, ranging from restaurants and hair salons to pet groomers, a city official said on Tuesday, as the pace of new infections slows.

Many businesses in Bangkok have spent more than a month under closure orders, crippling the economy. The reopening date was not clear as details remain to be worked out, but will be announced on Wednesday, a civic administration spokesman said.

“It will not be a return to normal like before,” said the spokesman, Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, adding that markets, sporting grounds, public parks, medical facilities and golf courses are also among the services eligible to reopen first.

“All activities in these places will be regulated,” he said, adding that the announcement would set out strict social distancing measures and other rules to prevent a fresh virus outbreak.

On Tuesday, Thailand reported seven new infections and two more deaths for a tally of 2,938 cases and 54 deaths since the outbreak began in January, while 2,652 patients have recovered.

The numbers fit a trend of fewer new cases, down from past weeks in which more than 100 were recorded each day.

The government is considering how to relax curbs nationwide, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said, while urging people to keep up vigilance against the virus.

Since emerging in China late last year, the virus has spread worldwide, causing more than 3 million infections and over 210,000 deaths.

To fight the virus, Thailand declared a state of emergency and curbs on movement between its provinces as well as night-time curfew nationwide, along with a ban on incoming international passenger flights.

Coronavirus will heighten food insecurity in hardest-hit African nations

The spread of Covid-19 risks devastating countries across East Africa, where food insecurity could more than double in just three months, the United Nations warned Tuesday.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that some 20 million people currently do not have secure provisions of food across nine countries in the region: Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda.

Compared to other parts of the world, these countries have so far registered few confirmed Covid-19 cases, with numbers still counted in the dozens or hundreds.

However, due to their often weak economies and poor health infrastructure they are considered highly vulnerable to the impacts of the mounting crisis.

“WFP projections are currently that the number of food insecure people in the region is likely to increase to 34 or up to 43 million during the next three months due to the socioeconomic impact of Covid-19,” spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told journalists in a virtual briefing.

In the worst-case scenario, “food insecurity will have more than doubled,” she stressed, adding that nearly half of the projected 43 million people affected were expected to be acutely food insecure.

World should have listened on virus, WHO chief says

The World Health Organisation’s director general said on Monday that the agency had sounded the highest level of alarm over the novel coronavirus early on, but lamented that not all countries had heeded its advice.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out that the WHO warned the Covid-19 outbreak constituted a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” on January 30, when there were no deaths and only 82 cases registered outside China.

“The world should have listened to WHO then, carefully,” he told a virtual press briefing.

The organisation has faced scathing criticism from US President Donald Trump, who earlier this month suspended Washington’s funding after accusing WHO of playing down the seriousness of the outbreak and kowtowing to China, where the novel coronavirus first surfaced late last year. Trump has provided no evidence to support his claims.

Tedros insisted that the UN health agency had provided sound advice from the beginning “based on the best science and evidence”.

But he stressed though that “we do not have any mandate to force countries … to take our advice”.

When the WHO announced on January 30 that the novel coronavirus represented “the highest level of emergency … every country could have triggered all its public health measures,” Tedros pointed out.

Closely watched arthritis drug disappoints in Covid-19 trial

An arthritis drug that was being closely watched for its potential use against Covid-19 has delivered disappointing results in clinical trials, its makers said.

Kevzara, which is made by Regeneron and Sanofi, does not attack the novel coronavirus but instead inhibits an abnormal immune response called a “cytokine storm” that causes the lungs of the sickest patients to become inflamed, leaving them fighting for their lives on ventilators.

An early small study in China had appeared promising, but the drug showed no benefit over a placebo in a larger US study of 276 patients with “severe” disease – that is to say, those requiring oxygen but not ventilators.

There was, however, a ray of hope for those who were “critical”, defined as needing mechanical ventilation or high-flow oxygenation. In this group, 44 were on a placebo, 94 were given a low dose and 88 were given a high dose.

Fifty-five per cent of patients on the placebo died by the end of the study period, compared with 46 per cent on the lower dose and 32 per cent on the high dose.

The trial will continue among this critical group.

The company is separately developing an antibody cocktail that will directly target the virus and that it hopes to advance into human trials by June.

Australia’s popular Bondi Beach reopens, sunbathing banned

Swimmers and surfers were allowed to return to the water at Australia’s popular Bondi Beach on Tuesday morning, but sunbathing on the sand remained banned.

Bondi Beach, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, is Australia’s most popular tourist destination after the Sydney Harbour area. In 2018, it was visited by 2.9 million people.

Authorities shut the beach down some five weeks ago after thousands of people flouted strict coronavirus social distancing rules to sunbathe and swim there.

Swimming and surfing will be permitted from Tuesday onwards, but not sunbathing or walking. The beach will be open on weekdays between 7am and 5pm, as will two other smaller beaches nearby, according to local Waverley Council.

New Zealanders rush for fast food as lockdown is relaxed

The beaches will remain closed on weekends.

Bondi is one of the hotspots for Covid-19 cases in Australia, according to the New South Wales state government. It is a popular destination for backpackers visiting Australia from overseas.

Neighbouring Sydney beaches, including Coogee and Maroubra, have also been reopened from Tuesday without time limits.

Meanwhile, some Australian states have started loosening Covid-19 restrictions, while maintaining social distancing measures, from this week.

Australia has more than 6,720 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 84 fatalities.

Warning over possible coronavirus-linked illness in kids

The British government’s chief medical adviser has warned that there could be a link between an apparent increase in the number of children in the UK exhibiting severe inflammatory conditions and coronavirus.

Professor Chris Whitty said at the government’s daily briefing that it is “entirely plausible” that there is a link in some cases but stressed that this is a “very rare situation.”

Worries over the virus’ impact on children increased Monday following reports that the National Health Service has identified over the past three weeks an apparent increase in the number of children with inflammatory issues requiring intensive care treatment.

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said experts have been asked to look into this “as a matter of urgency” and that it is “really too early to say whether there is a link.”

The NHS’s advice states that children can get coronavirus but that “they seem to get it less often than adults and it’s usually less serious.”

Germans don masks to ward off virus

Germany made wearing masks on public transport and in most shops mandatory on Monday, even offering them in vending machines, as the country became the latest to cover up in the fight against the coronavirus.

Starting this week, donning face masks in public is compulsory in all of Germany’s 16 states but there are many regional differences.

The rules are most relaxed Berlin, where masks are required only on public transport and not in shops. There are no fines for not complying.

Bavaria on the other hand has threatened penalties of €150 (US$162) for anyone caught flouting the rules and shop owners who fail to make staff cover up can be fined €5,000.

The World Health Organisation initially said masks should only be worn by medical workers and carers but the little squares of fabric are now widely seen as key to gradually reopening societies as the world learns to live with the pandemic.

With its new rules, Germany follows in the footsteps of a string of European countries where mask-wearing is now compulsory, including Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Although Germany has recorded over 155,000 coronavirus cases, it has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world – just over 5,700 people have died.

‘Face’ of Sweden’s virus response immortalised in tattoo

While Sweden’s softer approach to the new coronavirus has drawn international attention, the country’s state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell has become a household name for Swedes and on Monday, his face was immortalised in a tattoo.

“I wanted to have the Swedish face of the crisis on my arm,” said 32-year-old admirer Gustav Lloyd Agerblad.

Both Agerblad and tattoo artist Zashay Tastas were surprised by the interest shown by local and international media, who turned up at the small parlour in Stockholm’s Sodermalm district on Monday to document the inking.

Sweden has not imposed the extraordinary lockdown measures seen across Europe, instead urging people to take responsibility for social distancing and follow official recommendations.

Giving updates at daily press briefings, Tegnell, the state epidemiologist at Sweden’s Public Health Agency, has come to represent the Swedish approach, which has remained steadfast even as other countries have opted for much more restrictive measures.

The soft-spoken but firm Tegnell often comes across as unfazed amid the criticism.

Italy’s day-to-day new cases lowest since March

Italy has registered its lowest day-to-day number of new cases of Covid-19 since practically the first day the nation was put under lockdown to contain what would become one of the world’s worst outbreaks.

According to data from the Italian health ministry, 1,739 cases new cases were confirmed in the 24-hour period ending Monday evening. The previous time the nation saw such a low daily number occurred on March 10, when 77 new cases were registered. Italy now has 199,414 known cases. It registered 333 deaths since Sunday evening, raising to 26,977 the number of known deaths in the country, which has Europe’s highest death toll in the pandemic.

Some of Italy’s lockdown rules will be partially eased on May 4, but many restrictions on retail shops, museums and other businesses will last two or more weeks beyond that date.

Scientists advising the government are concerned the contagion rate will start soaring again when Italians start moving around more with newly regained freedoms. Premier Giuseppe Conte has decided that reopening society will come gradually, since there is no vaccine against Covid-19.

Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg, Politico and Associated Press