Coronavirus latest: Obama slams US leaders for response

• German authorities warned that right-wing extremists are using anti-lockdown protests to spread propaganda
• New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says the state’s new confirmed COVID-19 cases are predominantly coming from those who are shopping, exercising or socializing
• Over 310,000 people worldwide have died due to COVID-19, while over 4.6 million cases have been registered

Updates in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC/GMT)

04:05 In a nationwide speech to high school graduates, former US President Barack Obama took a second apparent jab at the Trump administration’s approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic, comparing it to the way children behave.

“Doing what feels good, what’s convenient, what’s easy, that’s how little kids think,” Obama said in a nationally broadcast and live-streamed speech.

“Unfortunately, a lot of so-called grown-ups, including some with fancy titles and important jobs, still think that way — which is why things are so screwed up,” he added.

Obama urged graduates to “ground yourselves in values that last,” including honesty, responsibility and “respect for others.” It was the former US president’s second commencement speech of the day — and his second rare public rebuke of Trump — after he earlier addressed graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

03:50 A new study looking at Germany’s first coronavirus cases confirmed that patients can transfer the novel coronavirus to others before their first symptoms even appear.

In their study, published in the scientific journal “The Lancet Infectious Diseases,” German researchers found that “infectiousness before or on the day of symptom onset was substantial.”

Researchers conducted a detailed analysis of 16 patients who comprised Germany’s first outbreak cluster. The virus first emerged in late January at an automotive supplier outside Munich after a China-based employee visited for a business trip before she was diagnosed with the virus.

The study revealed that at least one of the 16 patients infected others with the virus before they experienced any symptoms. Researchers noted they believe this could have also been the case for five other patients as well.

Furthermore, at least four patients infected others with the virus on the same day that they started experiencing symptoms.

“These results suggest that although the outbreak was controlled, successful long-term and global containment of COVID-19 could be difficult to achieve,” researchers wrote in the study.

03:00 One of Australia’s principal opera sopranos Jane Ede, along with several other musicians will perform in the courtyard of a hotel in Sydney, on Monday. The performance is for 450 guests who have spent two weeks in government-ordered hotel quarantine after returning from abroad.

Guests will be able to watch the performance from their balconies, in-room TVs, or other electronic devices. Ede said, ”It’s really just to sort of bring everyone together and it will be quite an uplifting concert to sort of have a moment of connection and celebration before they end their quarantine.”

02:35 The city of Shanghai will soon be restarting some classes in schools, while giving students the option to attend virtually.  Shanghai, Beijing and some other cities had already started middle and high school classes for students preparing for exams.

Domestic flights are being resumed in China, and a number of flights have resumed 60% of pre-outbreak levels. More than 10,000 flights operated per day for the first time since February 1. Tourism spots such as Beijing’s Forbidden City palace complex and Shanghai’s Disneyland resort have also been reopened with strict social distancing measures.

China reported five new cases on Sunday. Two were imported, and three originated from the northeastern province of Jilin, which borders Russia and had already seen a small spike in rises. The number of COVID-19 positive patients in hospitals has reduced to 86. Another 519 are in supervised isolation. No new deaths have been reported in China for the past month, apart from one death added by Jilin province from a past date.

02:20 The coronavirus crisis has put more than 10,000 jobs at risk at Germany’s national rail operator Deutsche Bahn, according to trade union estimates.

In exchange for financial aid from the German government, Deutsche Bahn wants to reduce costs by around €5 billion ($5.4 billion) — including around €2.25 billion in personnel.

“The implementation of this agreement between the company and the federal government means in plain terms the reduction of well over 10,000 Deutsche Bahn jobs throughout Germany,” Klaus-Dieter Hommel, the head of the railworkers union EVG, told the daily Bild newspaper.

Hommel worries that the crisis will lead to a “a tough austerity policy that will fall on the backs of employees” including slashing apprenticeship positions and enacting hiring freezes. Deutsche Bahn currently has 213,000 employees.

01:35 Mexico has registered 47,144 cases of coronavirus on Saturday, with the country’s death toll rising to 5,045, health authorities said.

Experts say Mexico has suffered a slightly higher death rate than the global average so far from coronavirus because of the widespread presence of pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

01:21 Eight more sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number affected for a second time to 13. The Navy had stated on Friday that 5 additional sailors tested positive for the second time, but a navy official told AP on Saturday that the number was 8.

The US Navy ship had seen an outbreak in March after more than 4,000 of its crew of 4,800 tested positive. The sailors who had previously tested positive went through at least two weeks of isolation.

This month, hundreds of sailors began returning to the ship. Before they were allowed, they had to test negative twice in a row.

Sailors who had tested positive were required to stay in their assigned lodging for at least 14 days

01:00 Nepal has seen its first coronavirus-related death. The victim was a 29-year-old woman who had recently given birth, from Sindhupalchowk district, 90 kilometers (56 miles) away from the capital Kathmandu.

Her newborn child and other family members will be tested for the virus. She was brought back from a Kathmandu hospital after giving birth. After showing symptoms of fever and respiratory problems she was treated at a local hospital. As her condition worsened, she was referred to another hospital.

Nepal has reported only 281 cases of COVID-19 so far. Experts say that is due to an extremely low rate of testing. The country has conducted less than 100,000 tests so far. It was the first country in South Asia to report a case, back in January. Nepal has been in lockdown since March 24.

00:45 Brazil has overtaken Spain and Italy in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, making it the fourth-largest outbreak in the world.

The country logged 14,919 new cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s total to 233,142. Over 15,600 people have died due to the coronavirus in the country so far.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the outbreak, dismissing the virus as a “little flu.” Brazil is currently the worst-hit country in Latin America, with experts warning that the real figures could be much higher.

00:01 In a rare move, former US President Barack Obama issued a thinly veiled criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic in a speech to the class of 2020 on Saturday.

He did not name current President Donald Trump or any other US officials in his commencement speech for graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), but said there was a lack of leadership in the crisis.

“More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing,” Obama said.

“A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge,” he added.

Since leaving office in 2017, Obama has typically refrained from criticizing his successor following a tradition among former US presidents. Obama is also due to give another commencement speech for high school graduates later on Saturday.

00:00 Catch up on yesterday’s coronavirus news here: Italy outlines loosening of lockdown

In reporting on the coronavirus pandemic, unless otherwise specified, DW uses figures provided by the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Coronavirus Resource Center in the United States. JHU updates figures in real-time, collating data from world health organizations, state and national governments and other public official sources, all of whom have their own systems for compiling information.

Germany’s national statistics are compiled by its public health agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). These figures depend on data transmission from state and local levels and are updated around once a day, which can lead to deviation from JHU.

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