Coronavirus latest: Qatar enforces mandatory masks or prison; Brazil’s death toll tops 15,000

China is set to be challenged on its initial handling of the coronavirus that has killed almost 310,000 globally, when the World Health Organisation’s governing body holds its first meeting since Covid-19 spread around the world.

While the US has launched a daily barrage of attacks on China, including suggesting the virus escaped from a laboratory in the central city of Wuhan, the European Union and Australia are set to play a key role pushing for a probe into the virus’s origin when the World Health Assembly – the WHO’s decision making body – gathers on Monday for an annual meeting in Geneva.

That comes as Brazil emerges as a new global hotspot for Covid-19. The country added more cases after a record number of infections this weekend, overtaking Spain as the nation with the world’s fourth-highest number of confirmed patients.

Still, some governments sought to restart economic activity while treading cautiously amid the lingering – though in many cases waning – pandemic. Germany’s Bundesliga became the first major European football league to resume, and Italy, for a long stretch the world’s worst-hit country, announced that European Union tourists would be allowed to visit from June 3 and a 14-day mandatory quarantine would be scrapped.

Since first detected in China late last year, the coronavirus has whipped up a catastrophic economic storm.

In the US, the world’s worst-affected country with more than 88,000 deaths, unemployment has surged and retail sales have plummeted with no certainty when they might recover.

Perhaps the best chance of ending the pandemic is a vaccine, and US President Donald Trump voiced hope late Friday that one would be available by late 2020, “maybe before” – a timeline deemed unrealistic by many experts.

Former president Barack Obama criticised US leaders overseeing America’s response to the coronavirus, telling college graduates in an online commencement address that the pandemic shows many officials “aren’t even pretending to be in charge”.

Here are the latest developments:

Philippines urges shoppers to observe precautions

The Philippine government on Sunday called for vigilance against the coronavirus, a day after hordes of people trooped to shopping malls and ignored safety protocols, as authorities began loosening a two-month lockdown.

Photos and videos showing shoppers in some malls in the capital Manila violating physical distancing rules went viral on Saturday, drawing widespread public criticism and alarm, prompting the government to issue fresh health warnings.

“We advise the public not to be complacent and to follow health protocols set by authorities after we received reports of people who trooped to the malls with complete disregard of social/physical distancing measures,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

The government warned malls would be closed again if they do not strictly implement physical distancing and crowd control measures.

The Southeast Asian country has reported 12,513 cases of coronavirus infections and a death toll of 824.

Fears linger over the possibility of a new wave of novel coronavirus cases following reports of infections accelerating again in Germany, new cases in the city of Wuhan in central China, the origin of the outbreak, and in South Korea.

The Philippines has joined a growing number of countries gradually reopening economies shut down by restrictions aimed at containing the pandemic, although its biggest cities – Manila and Cebu – remain in lockdown.

Hamster test shows effects of masks

Tests on hamsters reveal the widespread use of facemasks reduces transmission of the deadly coronavirus, a team of leading experts in Hong Kong said Sunday.

The research by the University of Hong Kong is some of the first to specifically investigate whether masks can stop symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers from infecting others.

Led by Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, one of the world’s top coronavirus experts, the team placed hamsters that were artificially infected with the disease next to healthy animals.

Surgical masks were placed between the two cages with air flow travelling from the infected animals to the healthy ones.

The researchers found non-contact transmission of the virus could be reduced by more than 60 per cent when the masks were used.

Two thirds of the healthy hamsters were infected within a week if no masks were applied.

The infection rate plunged to just over 15 per cent when surgical masks were put on the cage of the infected animals and by about 35 per cent when placed on the cage with the healthy hamsters.

Those that did become infected were also found to have less of the virus within their bodies than those infected without a mask.

Qatar imposes mandatory masks or prison

Qatar on Sunday began enforcing the world’s toughest penalties of up to three years’ imprisonment for failing to wear masks in public, as it battles one of the world’s highest coronavirus infection rates.

More than 30,000 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the tiny Gulf country – 1.1 per cent of the 2.75 million population – although just 15 people have died.

Only the microstates of San Marino and the Vatican had higher per capita infection rates, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Violators of Qatar’s new rules will face up to three years in jail and fines of as much as US$55,000.

Drivers alone in their vehicles are exempt from the requirement, but several expats said that police were stopping cars at checkpoints to warn them of the new rules before they came into force.

Wearing a mask is currently mandatory in around 50 countries, although scientists are divided on their effectiveness.

Mosques, along with schools, malls, and restaurants remain closed in Qatar to prevent the disease’s spread.

But construction sites remain open as Qatar prepares to host the 2022 World Cup, although foremen and government inspectors are attempting to enforce social distancing rules.

China reports five new cases

China on Sunday reported five new cases of coronavirus, as the commercial hub of Shanghai announced the restart of classes for kindergarteners, first, second and third-graders from June 2.

Also, airlines say they have seen a revival of flights.

Of the new cases, two were imported and three were domestic infections in the northeastern province of Jilin that has seen a small spike in cases of unknown origin.

In Shanghai, students retain the option of continuing to follow classes online rather than facing virus testing and social distancing measures to be imposed at schools. As in Beijing and other cities, Shanghai has already restarted classes for middle and high school students preparing for exams.

No new deaths have been reported for the past month, but Jilin added one fatality retroactively, bringing China’s total to 4,634 out of 82,947 cases reported since the outbreak was first detected in the central city of Wuhan late last year. Just 86 people remain hospitalised for treatment of Covid-19 while another 519 people are in supervised isolation for showing signs of the virus or having tested positive without displaying symptoms.

China now has the capacity to perform 1.5 million nucleic acid tests per day, National Health Commission Guo Yanhong told reporters Saturday. The commission is placing a new emphasis on biosafety, management of laboratories and training of personnel, Guo said.

Meanwhile, the number of domestic flights has returned to 60 per cent of pre-outbreak levels, exceeding 10,000 per day for the first time since February 1, the country’s civil aviation regulator reported. The number of flight hit 10,262 on Friday, up from a low of 3,931 flights on February 13, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said. No passenger numbers were given.

With the summer holidays approaching, numerous tourist sites have reopened, including Beijing’s storied Forbidden City palace complex and Shanghai’s Disneyland resort, although with strict social distancing measures still in place.

Brazil’s death toll tops 15,000

Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll passed 15,000 on Saturday, official data showed, while its number of infections topped 230,000, making it the country with the fourth-highest number of cases in the world.

With 15,633 deaths and 233,142 confirmed cases, Brazil – whose president Jair Bolsonaro has dismissed the disease as a “little flu” – is at the epicentre of infections in Latin America.

Experts say under-testing means the real figures could be 15 times higher or more, and warn the worst is yet to come.

The sprawling South American country registered 816 deaths and 14,919 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Despite the rising tolls, Bolsonaro on Saturday attacked lockdown measures taken by some governors to contain the spread of the virus.

“Unemployment, hunger and misery will be the future of those who support the tyranny of total isolation,” the far-right president tweeted, a day after Health Minister Nelson Teich resigned after less than a month on the job.

The president insists business closures and stay-at-home orders are unnecessarily damaging the economy.

The pandemic has already claimed almost 310,000 lives worldwide.

Nationwide testing in Brazil still lags far behind European nations. Brazil had processed nearly 338,000 novel coronavirus tests in official labs by the beginning of the week, according to the Health Ministry. Another 145,000 tests were under analysis or waiting in line.

By contrast, Italy and Spain have each run some 1.9 million official diagnostic tests for the virus.

New infections slow in South Korea

South Korea on Sunday reported five new domestic cases of coronavirus, all linked to a cluster of cases centred around bars and nightclubs in the capital which has raised fears in the country of a fresh wave of contagion.

After weeks of nearly no new domestic coronavirus cases, South Korea relaxed its lockdown on May 6, but a subsequent spike in infections linked to Seoul’s Itaewon nightlife neighbourhood forced a rapid rethink.

The government has stood by its decision to ease broader restrictions by reopening offices, public facilities and sports centres, but some nightclubs and bars in the capital were ordered to close again, and authorities have also delayed the planned reopening of schools by a week.

South Korea reported 13 new cases as of midnight on Saturday, bringing the country’s total to 11,050 with 263 deaths.

Of those new cases, five were linked to the outbreak from the night spots in Seoul, and seven were people with the infection entering South Korea from abroad.

It was the second consecutive day in single figures for new domestic cases since the latest scare erupted, but so far there have been 168 cases linked to the Itaewon cluster, including clubgoers as well as secondary infections in family members, co-workers, and students.

Director Jeong Eun-kyeong of Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) warned the clubgoers to stay in isolation as their incubation period hasn’t passed yet.

“Even if you have been tested negative, there still is a risk of infection during the incubation period. Please do get tested again if you have any symptoms,” Jeong said.

South Korean authorities confirmed that 6,800 out of about 9,000 bars and nightclubs nationwide were shut down on Saturday and 61,000 tests have been carried out linked to the Itaewon outbreak, Health Minister Park Neung-hoo told a briefing.

Japan urged to ‘allow business travel’

China and South Korea have asked Japan to join them in relaxing controls on business travel as virus cases tail off, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.

Japan remains reluctant to loosen what are currently some of the tightest border controls in the developed world, which were introduced over the past few weeks in a bid to help contain the coronavirus.

China and South Korea have allowed some business travel to resume with virus testing from this month, seeking to revive their ailing economies.

Health ministers from the three countries met by video conference on Friday and agreed to share information, data and expertise on the infection in a transparent fashion, according to Japan’s health ministry.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Friday that Japan needs to bring the outbreak under control domestically and examine the situation in other countries before considering relaxing border restrictions.

“Some countries are seeing a second wave,” Motegi said. “We want to take into account the infection situation in the other country, as well as various other information, in considering what approach we can take to movement.”

When Japan does begin to open its borders, businesspeople and experts will be prioritised, while tourism and other ordinary travel will come much later, Motegi said. Japan is also thinking of dividing countries into groups of 10 for travel approval, and hopes to coordinate mutual access at the same time, he said.

Brazil’s coronavirus deaths surge and president says ‘so what’?

Shopping blamed in New York cases

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state’s new confirmed Covid-19 cases are predominantly coming from people who left their homes to go shop, exercise or socialise and not from essential workers.

State data showed that the number of new cases statewide has fluctuated between 2,100 and 2,500 per day. The number of new cases decreased to 2,419 on Saturday from 2,762 on Friday.

Cuomo said he theorised last week that new cases were coming from essential workers.

“That was exactly wrong,” he said. “The infection rate among essential workers is lower than the general population and those new cases are coming predominantly from people who are not working and they are at home.”

The state’s budget director, Robert Mujica, said officials expect to “learn a lot more” about the genesis of new cases from contact tracing over the next week.

The state just began contact tracing, which will involve several hundred people, he said.

Cuomo said the five regions that have already opened were required to have a certain number of tracers proportionate to their populations.

“The tracing operation is tremendously large and challenging,” he said.

Australia seeks China reply

Australia’s trade minister has yet to receive a call back from his Chinese counterpart after reaching out to Beijing about an anti-dumping probe into barley exports.

An official response was filed with China over the investigation, the trade minister Simon Birmingham said. He reiterated the government’s stance that Australia’s barley farmers operate without any trade-distorting subsidies and price their products in an entirely commercial way.

If duties, which could be set at as high as 80 per cent, were imposed, Australia would appeal the matter to the World Trade Organisation, Birmingham said.

“Government to government we have had lots of contacts, our officials continue to engage in dialogue,” Birmingham said in response to questions on whether he had been able to directly talk to his counterpart. A call seeking to talk to China’s trade minister has “not been accommodated at this time,” he said.

The probe into the barley exports to China, worth A$1.4 billion (US$898 million) in 2017, is seen by many in Australia as part of Beijing’s response to the government’s call for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan.

China’s embassy in Canberra warned its citizens might be offended by Australia’s behaviour and choose to travel to alternative destinations and send their children to universities in other countries – threatening Australia’s two key service exports. Meat imports from four Australian processing plants have also been suspended by China.

New Zealand PM turned away from cafe

In New Zealand, no one is exempt from the strict coronavirus prevention measures – not even Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who was denied entry to a cafe because of her own social distancing rules.

Ardern, her fiancé Clarke Gayford and a group of friends were turned away from a cafe in Wellington on Saturday because it had already reached its customer limit.

“I have to take responsibility for this, I didn’t get organised and book anywhere,” Gayford tweeted in response to another diner, who had spotted the couple being turned away.

As New Zealand eases out of its coronavirus lockdown, cafes were allowed to reopen on Thursday, but must maintain social distancing between tables and customers must remain seated.

A diner who saw Ardern refused entry told Stuff media that a cafe employee “had to awkwardly say it was full and there were no tables, and they left.”

Fortunately for Ardern’s party, other diners left soon after, and staff from the cafe were able to run down the street to invite the prime minister back.

“Was very nice of them to chase us down the street when a spot freed up. A+ service,” Gayford tweeted.

‘Surreal’ football in empty stadium

Borussia Dortmund’s coach and chief executive spoke of the “very strange” and “surreal” experience of playing in an empty stadium after their side beat Schalke as the Bundesliga returned to action on Saturday.

Second-placed Dortmund won 4-0 to close the gap on leaders Bayern Munich to one point as the Bundesliga became the first top league to resume play since the coronavirus pandemic forced the season to be put on hold in March.

Dortmund’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said it had been unsettling to watch the game in the club’s empty Signal Iduna Park, where more than 80,000 spectators would normally have roared on the teams. It is too dangerous for crowds to gather.

“There is something surreal about it. In the two hours before the match, you receive text messages from all over the world, people who tell you that they are going to watch the match on TV,” Watzke said. “And then you drive through your city and there is absolutely nothing happening. You have to get used to it.”

WHO: spraying disinfectants can be ‘harmful’

Spraying disinfectant on the streets, as practised in some countries, does not eliminate the new coronavirus and even poses a health risk, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned.

In a document on cleaning and disinfecting surfaces as part of the response to the virus, the WHO says spraying can be ineffective.

“Spraying or fumigation of outdoor spaces, such as streets or marketplaces, is … not recommended to kill the Covid-19 virus or other pathogens because disinfectant is inactivated by dirt and debris,” explains the WHO.

“Even in the absence of organic matter, chemical spraying is unlikely to adequately cover all surfaces for the duration of the required contact time needed to inactivate pathogens.”

The WHO said that streets and pavements are not considered as “reservoirs of infection” of Covid-19, adding that spraying disinfectants, even outside, can be “dangerous for human health”.

The document also stresses that spraying individuals with disinfectants is “not recommended under any circumstances”.

The Sars-CoV-2 virus, the cause of the pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide since its appearance in late December in China, can attach itself to surfaces and objects.

However, no precise information is currently available for the period during which the viruses remain infectious on the various surfaces.

Studies have shown that the virus can stay on several types of surfaces for several days. However, these maximum durations are only theoretical because they are recorded under laboratory conditions and should be “interpreted with caution” in the real-world environment.

The WHO has also called for a global effort to understand a rare inflammatory syndrome affecting children and teenagers that may be linked to Covid-19.

First virus death in Nepal

Nepal reported its first coronavirus death late Saturday – a 29-year-old woman who recently gave birth – as the total number of people infected in the country reached 281.

The victim – who was from Sindhupalchowk district, some 90km (about 55 miles) from the capital Kathmandu – was on her way to a hospital for treatment when she died.

“It has been proven that is this the first case of death caused by Covid-19 in Nepal,” the deputy spokesman for the health ministry, Samir Kumar Adhikari, said.

Her newborn and other family members will be tested to see if they have contracted the virus, local media reported.

Nepal, which has a population of 28 million, has conducted fewer than 100,000 tests so far. Experts say the lack of mass testing may have prevented identification of other fatalities.

The country has been under lockdown since March 24 after a second case was confirmed.

Thailand extends flight ban

Thailand's aviation body has extended a ban on all international flights to the country until June 30 as part of efforts to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

It is the fourth time the ban has been extended after being imposed on April 4 by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. The previous ban was to expire on May 31.

The aviation body said that all flight permits granted from June 1 to June 30 are to be cancelled.

It said the ban does not apply to state or military aircraft, emergency landings, technical landings without passengers, humanitarian, medical or relief flights, repatriation flights and cargo flights.

Passengers on board such flights will be subject to measures such as a 14-day state quarantine, it said.

On Sunday, Thailand will shorten a nightly curfew and allow shopping malls to reopen as other measures against the virus are eased.

The government's coronavirus task has reported a total of 3,025 cases, with 56 deaths, while 114 people are being treated in hospital.

Germany ‘corona demos’ take off

Angered by a slew of lockdown measures or a purported vaccine plan by Bill Gates, thousands took to the streets on Saturday in Germany in a growing wave of demonstrations that has alarmed even Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Initially starting as a handful of protesters decrying tough restrictions on public life to halt transmission of the coronavirus, the protests have swollen in recent weeks to gatherings of thousands in major German cities.

Huge numbers turned up again across Germany on Saturday, with more than 5,000 gathering in Stuttgart, at least 1,500 in Frankfurt and around 1,000 in Munich.

The growing demonstrations have sparked comparison to the anti-Muslim Pegida marches at the height of Europe’s refugee crisis in 2015, raising questions over whether the strong support that Merkel is currently enjoying due to her handling of the virus crisis could evaporate.

Just as it won popularity by fanning anti-migrant sentiment five years ago, the far-right AfD party is now openly encouraging protesters and repositioning itself as an anti-lockdown party.

A recent poll commissioned by the Spiegel news magazine found that almost one in four Germans surveyed voiced “understanding” for the demonstrations.

The development has shocked the political establishment, with Merkel reportedly telling the top brass of her centre-right CDU party of the “worrying” trend that may bear some hallmarks of Russia’s disinformation campaigns.

Coronavirus conspiracy theories fuel lockdown protests in Germany

France 24-hour virus toll drops below 100

France on Saturday reported 96 new coronavirus deaths, a lower figure than in previous days, as its overall toll from the pandemic reached 27,625.

Several other recent positive trends continued as well, with 71 fewer people in intensive care, the health ministry said.

The latest figures came as France enjoyed the sixth day of the partial easing of a nationwide lockdown imposed on March 17 to battle the virus.

At present, there are 19,432 people in hospital for Covid-19 treatment in France, down from 22,614 one week ago, the ministry figures showed.

But the number of admissions within 24 hours released on Saturday came to 350, an increase from the week-earlier number of 265.

Health officials in the central Val de Loire region meanwhile reported an outbreak at an abattoir in which 34 cases of coronavirus had been detected.

Experts were called in on Friday to start testing and were still contacting all the workers to check them.

The abattoir itself, at Fleury-les-Aubrais near the city of Orleans, has been shut down for on-site tests and cleaning.

PM: Italy must accept risks reopening

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte acknowledged that the reopening of the Italian economy brings a risk of new outbreaks of the coronavirus but said “we must accept it”.

Conte said that the nationwide lockdown that began in early March had brought “the expected results”, putting the country in a position to expand economic activity in the second phase of reopening.

Stores, bars, cafes, restaurants, hairdressers and museums are among the business and cultural activities that can resume starting Monday. Gyms and swimming pools can reopen a week after. Travel between regions and into Italy from abroad will be permitted starting June 3.

Conte said the country must accept the risks and open before the availability of a vaccine. But an extensive monitoring system is in place and the government would intervene to close areas if there are new outbreaks.

Zimbabwe prolongs lockdown

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Saturday the lockdown imposed to control the spread of coronavirus would stay in place for the moment, but would be reviewed every two weeks.

The restrictions have so far borne fruit as transmission has not been widespread and numbers remain lower than had been initial projections, he added.

From more than 25,000 tests conducted, the country has so far detected 42 cases, four of which proved fatal.

Mnangagwa said the World Health Organisation had classified coronavirus transmission in Zimbabwe as “sporadic, with one or more cases imported or locally detected.

“This may suggest that despite the small numbers tested, our country might have a reduced Covid-19 trajectory,” he said in a speech broadcast on public television.

Other, similar sub-Saharan countries had recorded similar trajectories, he added.

“Zimbabwe will therefore continue on … lockdown for an indefinite period. We shall have two-week interval reviews to assess progress, or lack of it.”

Zimbabwe imposed its lockdown on March 30.

Local doctors have warned that Zimbabwe’s poorly equipped health service could not cope with a coronavirus pandemic.

Nigerian leader gets virus ‘potion’

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari received samples of a herbal concoction that Madagascar claims can cure people infected with the new coronavirus, his office said.

Buhari who collected the potion from President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea Bissau who visited him in Abuja said the native remedy would be scientifically tested before use.

The virus has so far infected 5,445 people and claimed 171 lives in Africa’s most populous nation of 200 million inhabitants.

Several other African nations have also expressed interest in the purported remedy, which is known as Covid-Organics.

The drink is derived from artemisia – a plant with proven efficacy in malaria treatment – and other indigenous herbs.

But the World Health Organisation has warned against “adopting a product that has not been taken through tests to see its efficacy”, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has also said it should be “tested rigorously”.

Madagascar leader Andry Rajoelina on Monday dismissed criticisms against the herbal concoction, saying the West was against it because it was discovered in Africa.

Madagascar’s official body in charge of drug control has not approved the drink for sale in the country.

Agence France-Presse, Associated Presss, DPA and Reuters