COVID–19 Headlines April 5, 2020

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Worldwide cases are now are more than 1.2 million.

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All of the articles I have written about Covid-19 are below.

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COVID-19 Headlines

7 pm EST update. An increase of 43,425 cases and 2,749 deaths. Death rate of 5.45%

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Glimmer of hope in Europe as Spain sees third daily drop in coronavirus deaths

There are cautious hopes that Spain’s strict lockdown rules are working as the country reports a slowing in the rate of coronavirus infections and deaths.

Asian Americans use social media to mobilize against attacks-AP

Asian Americans are using social media to organize and fight back against racially motivated attacks during the pandemic, which the FBI predicts will increase as infections grow. A string of racist run-ins in the last two weeks has given rise to hashtags — #WashTheHate, #RacismIsAVirus, #IAmNotCOVID19 — and online forums to report incidents. Critics say President Donald Trump made things worse by calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted to hospital

Singapore quarantines 20,000 migrant workers amid spike in new virus cases-SBS

Singapore says it will quarantine nearly 20,000 migrant workers in their dormitories for two weeks amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Tiger at Bronx Zoo tests positive for coronavirus-CNN

A 4-year-old Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York tested positive for coronavirus, which causes Covid-19 in humans. This is the first instance of a tiger being infected, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories.

The tiger, named Nadia, along with her sister Azul, two Amur tigers and three African lions “had developed a dry cough and all are expected to recover,” a news release from the zoo said.

Queen Elizabeth says ‘we will succeed’ against coronavirus-SBS

Queen Elizabeth has told the British people that they would overcome the coronavirus outbreak if they stayed resolute in the face of lockdown and self-isolation, invoking the spirit of World War II in an extremely rare TV address.

Where will the bodies go? Morgues plan as virus grows-AP

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — There are the new dead. And then there are the bodies waiting in overcrowded mortuaries to be buried as cities struggle to meet demand and families wrestle with rules on social distancing that make the usual funeral rituals impossible.

Med Alliance Group, a medical distributor in Illinois, is besieged by calls and emails from cities around the country. Each asks the same thing: Send more refrigerated trailers so that we can handle a situation we never could have imagined.

Churches across the US hold Palm Sunday services despite social distancing and stay-at-home orders

Despite many states implementing stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines, churches across the US are still holding service on Palm Sunday, which marks Jesus’ monumental arrival in Jerusalem.

“We don’t get our rights to worship freely from the government we get those from God,” said the Rev. Tony Spell with the Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. More than 1,200 people attended his church Sunday.

Worries about the coronavirus outbreak have triggered widespread cancellations of Holy Week processions and in-person services. Many pastors will preach on TV or online, tailoring sermons to account for the pandemic. Many extended families will reunite via Face Time and Zoom rather than around a communal table laden with an Easter feast on April 12.

Coronavirus cases in Louisiana grow while the state faces a ventilator shortage

Louisiana could run out of ventilators by the end of the week if the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to surge, Gov. John Bel Edwards told CNN today.

“We now think it’s probably around the 9th of April before we exceed our ventilator capacity based on the current number on hand and that we’re a couple of days behind that on ICU bed capacity being exceeded,” Edwards said.

To mask or not to mask: WHO makes U-turn while US, Singapore abandon pandemic advice and tell citizens to start wearing masks

From the start, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the answer was ‘no’. Masks should be worn by those who are sick, and medical and care workers, according to the global body. There was no need for people who are well to wear them.

“There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit,” said Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies programme, as recently as Monday.
All that changed this week. On Friday, both the US and Singapore switched to advising citizens to wear masks when they leave their homes. The WHO also made a U-turn itself, with Ryan saying: “We can certainly see circumstances on which the use of masks, both home-made and cloth masks, at the community level may help with an overall comprehensive response to this disease.”

The state of New Jersey has secured about 500 additional ventilators after having ‘multiple’ conversations with the White House, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted Sunday.

South Korean job seekers take exam at football stadium to avoid spreading coronavirus

Dozens of South Koreans took an employment exam at an outdoor football stadium on Saturday as part of social distancing measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Mainland China sees rise in new coronavirus cases-Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) – Mainland China reported 30 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, up from 19 a day earlier as the number of cases involving travellers from abroad as well as local transmissions increased, highlighting the difficulty in stamping out the outbreak.

Bracing for coronavirus deaths, Ukrainian city digs more than 600 new graves-SBS

Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro have dug more than 600 new graves to prepare for the possibility of an influx of victims from the coronavirus pandemic.

Various coronavirus treatments are being tested in New York, governor says

A coronavirus vaccine and other treatments to fight the virus are being tested, according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

He said doctors in New York are working with the Food and Drug Administration. Some of the treatments that are being tested are the use of plasma, antibody treatment and the use of hydroxychloroquine.

Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin as Potential Covid-19 Treatment

12 noon EST update. An increase of 22,398 cases and 1,754 deaths since 5:30 am.

ANTI-PARASITE DRUG USED SINCE 1980S MAY HELP STOP CORONAVIRUS, NEW STUDY SAYS

ustralian researchers have published a study showing a drug commonly used to treat parasite infections can also kill coronavirus in a laboratory setting in under 48 hours.

Researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia have discovered that the antiparasitic drug Ivermectin can inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus the causes COVID-19, according to a study published Friday in the journal Antiviral Research.

Business activity collapses across Europe as coronavirus lockdowns spread-Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – Business activity has cratered across Europe as attempts to contain the coronavirus pandemic push governments to shut down vast swathes of their economies, from shops to factories to restaurants, surveys showed on Friday.

MILAN, April 5 — It took Silvia Bertuletti 11 days of frantic phone calls to persuade a doctor to visit her 78-year-old father Alessandro, who was gripped by fever and struggling for breath.

When an on-call physician did go to her house near Bergamo, at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy, on the evening of March 18, it was too late.

Portuguese ‘drive-by priest’ broadcasts prayers from smart car-SBS

A priest in Oeiras, on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital Lisbon, has come up with a novel way to help locals stay in touch with their faith during the coronavirus epidemic. Click on he headline to see the video.

A mounting casualty of coronavirus crisis: Health care jobs

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Tens of thousands of medical workers across the United States are suddenly out of work as operating rooms and doctor’s offices go dark, casualties of urgent calls to prioritize coronavirus patients at overwhelmed hospitals and of the economic waves the crisis is churning.

Even as hospitals scrounge for professionals from the industry to treat the burgeoning numbers of people with COVID-19, others are on the sidelines as elective procedures, diagnostics and appointments are canceled or postponed.

France turns to speedy trains to catch up in virus response

PARIS (AP) — The high-speed train whooshing past historic World War I battle sites and through the chateau-speckled Loire Valley carried a delicate cargo: 20 critically ill COVID-19 patients and the breathing machines helping keep them alive.

The TGV-turned-mobile-intensive-care-unit is just one piece of France’s nationwide mobilization of trains, helicopters, jets and even a warship, deployed to relieve congested hospitals and shuffle hundreds of patients and medical personnel in and out of coronavirus hotspots.

Virus puts Tokyo healthcare system under pressure-NHK

The Tama Medical Center has been treating people for the coronavirus since February. On Thursday it had 10 inpatients but plans to expand its capacity to 60. As the number of cases grows, though, staff are wondering whether that will be enough.

Britain secures 300 new ventilators from China-Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain took delivery of 300 ventilators from China on Saturday and more will start being produced soon by a consortium of aerospace, engineering and Formula One teams, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said.

Trump says ‘toughest’ weeks ahead as coronavirus spreads

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is warning that the country could be headed into its “toughest” weeks yet as the coronavirus death toll mounts, but at the same time he expressed growing impatience with social distancing guidelines and said he’s eager to get the country reopened and its stalled economy back on track.

5 am EST. An increase of 7,693 and 547 deaths since 7:30 pm last night. Death rate 5.38%

Coronavirus: More than 8,000 Israelis have the novel disease

US braces for more virus deaths; Europe hopes crisis peaking-AP

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. warned of many more coronavirus deaths in the days ahead as the global pandemic muted traditional observances from family grave-cleaning ceremonies in China to Palm Sunday for many Christians.

Italy and Spain, the two hardest-hit European nations, expressed hope that the crisis was peaking in their countries, though Italian officials said the emergency is far from over as infections have plateaued but not started to decline.

US coronavirus cases top 300,000-NHK

Officials of the hardest-hit state of New York announced on Saturday that more than 10,000 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 113,704. They announced 630 fatalities, which is the largest daily increase, raising the total to 3,565.

Petition calling for resignation of WHO Director-General nears 720k signatures

The main point of contention was Ghebreyesus’ failure to designate the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency in late January.

French coronavirus death toll hits new high as nursing home tally swells

PARIS (Reuters) – The total number of deaths from the coronavirus in France reached a new high on Saturday as the government included more previously unreported deaths in nursing homes.

Zoom green screens, but not pants: Here are the new work from home essentials-Market Watch

Here’s what people are buying to make working from home a better experience

States lack key data on virus cases among medical workers-AP

SEATTLE (AP) — Experts and health officials who are trying to plan a response to the coronavirus outbreak are missing a critical piece of information — the number of health care workers who have tested positive for the disease.

That information can help save lives, said Dr. Grete Porteous, an anesthesiologist in Seattle who has worked on health care emergency preparedness and crisis management. It previously helped reduce risks to medical personnel during the much smaller SARS outbreak of 2003-04, she said.

Dr. Deborah Birx: ‘This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy’-CNN

“This is a very important — the next two weeks are extraordinarily important, and that’s why I think you’ve heard from Dr. (Anthony) Fauci, from myself, from the President and the Vice President that this is the moment to do everything that you can on the presidential guidelines,” Birx said. “This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe, and that means everybody doing the 6 feet distancing, washing your hands.”

Mexico seeks to build ventilators as cases rise to 1,890

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