Coronavirus latest: Spain deaths drop below 100
- 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
- Deaths in Spain have dropped below 100 for the first time since mid-March
Updates in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC/GMT)
12:30 The city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus outbreak originated in China, conducted nearly a quarter of a million tests on Saturday — almost double the previous day’s total, the local health authority said.
Wuhan kicked off a campaign on May 14 to look for asymptomatic carriers — people who are infected but show no outward sign of illness — after confirming last weekend its first cluster of COVID-19 infections since its release from a virtual lockdown on April 8.
Wuhan is conducting the testing on a voluntary basis in the city of 11 million. Those who were previously tested do not need to participate.
No confirmed cases with symptoms have been identified over the first three days of testing, though 28 new asymptomatic carriers were found.
10:44 The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) fears a spike in corruption is looming, with governments pledging billions in coronavirus aid packages at a time when authorities are simply overstretched.
“We suspect that we’ll see a lot more corruption in the coming months, especially if these large funds are used to revive the economy,” OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger told Austria’s APA news agency. “Criminals are adapting quickly to the systemic weaknesses caused by the coronavirus crisis.”
The Swiss diplomat also warned that human trafficking was expected to rise because the introduction of border checks at Europe’s internal borders would ”totally overwhelm the border authorities in the Schengen area.”
Gremminger also lamented that the pandemic seemed to have reinforced a tendency towards “very national reflexes … and unilateral isolationist approaches.”
He added that he hoped for more cooperation between OSCE countries, saying it was the only way to “deal with such a transnational threat.”
09:53 Spain’s Health Ministry has said the daily death count was 87 on Sunday, the first time it’s been below 100 in two months. In mid-March, Spain implemented one of the strictest lockdowns in the world to curb the spread of the virus. The government has since started easing many restrictions, and has announced plans to extend its state of emergency by another month. As part of the latest changes, clubs in Spain’s football league will be allowed to begin group training sessions on Monday after weeks of players practicing by themselves. Some 27,650 people have died from the virus in Spain, while more than 230,600 have been infected.
09:16 Five new cases were recorded on mainland China on May 16, national health authorities said Sunday. That’s down from eight the previous day. Two of the cases were reported to be imported infections, while the other three were domestically transmitted in the northeastern city of Jilin. Residents there have been advised not to leave the city. The coronavirus has killed 4,634 people in China and infected nearly 83,000 since it was first detected there in late 2019.
Meanwhile in South Korea, authorities reported 13 new cases, bringing the total to 11,050 with 262 deaths. Five of the new COVID-19 infections were locally transmitted and linked to bars and nightclubs in Seoul. The country relaxed coronavirus restrictions on May 6 after weeks of no new cases. But the emergence of small clusters at nightspots has prompted the government to close some locales and delay the planned reopening of schools by a week.
Singapore registered 682 more infections in the past 24 hours, taking the city-state’s total tally to 28,038, the Health Ministry said Sunday. Most of those new cases are migrant workers living in dormitories, the ministry added.
In the Philippines, 208 new cases and seven more fatalities were reported on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 824. Most of the Southeast Asian country’s 12,513 infections are in the capital, Manila.
In Malaysia, the total number of cases reached 6,894 on Sunday after 22 more people tested positive for COVID-19. The death toll remained 113, with no new deaths reported.
08:08 Russia has reported 9,709 new coronavirus cases, bringing the overall tally of infections to 281,752. The latest daily jump in diagnoses is higher than the 9,200 new cases reported on Saturday. Authorities also said the death toll stood at 2,632 after 94 new deaths over the past 24 hours.
The capital Moscow, the hardest-hit city, has extended its lockdown until the end of May. However, some sectors, including industry and construction, have been allowed to start up again. The national football championship is set to resume by late June.
Read more: Remembering health workers as Russia reels from COVID-19
07:36 Germany’s Greens are calling for major reforms in the meat production industry after coronavirus outbreaks in several slaughterhouses shed light on catastrophic working conditions. The party laid out its demands in a seven-point plan published by the Funke Media Group on Sunday. The list includes proposals such as a minimum price for animal products, a ban on contract work, increased state control in companies, and above-board remuneration for workers.
Greens leader Robert Habeck said the mass production of meat at dumping prices inevitably led to workers losing out.
“They slave away under miserable working and wage conditions, live in catastrophic accommodation, and the protection of their health comes last,” he said.
In one particularly bad case, more than 250 workers were infected with the coronavirus at an abattoir in Coesfeld, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. You can read more about ‘modern slavery’ in the industry here.
07:06 The United Nations is warning that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated risks faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Marking the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia on Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said members of the LGBTI community “are experiencing heightened stigma as a result of the virus, as well as new obstacles when seeking health care.”
He added that the UN had received reports of security authorities abusing coronavirus measures in some countries to target LGBTI individuals and organizations.
“As the pandemic unfolds, the United Nations will continue to highlight these and other injustices, as well as the need for everyone to be protected and included in the response to the crisis,” he said.
07:03 The number of confirmed cases in Germany has increased by 583 to 174,355, according to the Robert Koch Institute. The death toll climbed by 33 to 7,914.
Germany has started reopening its economy and relaxing restrictions introduced in mid-March. Schools have reopened for students, while shops, restaurants and hairdressers are serving customers.
This is how Sunday’s figures compare to previous days:
Saturday May 16: 620 new cases; 57 new deaths
Friday, May 15: 913 new cases; 101 new deaths
Thursday, May 14: 933 new cases; 89 new deaths
Wednesday, May 13: 798 new cases; 101 new deaths
Tuesday, May 12: 933 new cases; 116 new deaths
Monday, May 11: 357 new cases; 22 new deaths
Sunday, May 10: 667 new cases; 13 new deaths
Saturday May 9: 1,251 new cases; 103 new deaths
Friday May 8: 1,209 new cases; 147 new deaths
Thursday May 7: 1,284 new cases; 123 new deaths
Wednesday May 6: 947 new cases; 165 new deaths
Tuesday May 5: 685 new cases; 139 new deaths
Monday May 4: 679 new cases; 43 new deaths
Sunday May 3: 793 new cases; 74 new deaths
Saturday May 2: 945 new cases; 94 new deaths
05:32 Spain is refusing to budge on travel restrictions that only allow Spaniards and permanent residents to enter the country, despite angry protests from Germans with holiday homes on the island of Mallorca.
According to AFP reports, several hundred Germans have sent pleading or angry letters to the regional government of the Balearic Islands in recent weeks, asking to be allowed to visit their second homes on the island popular with vacation travelers.
The letters are part of a protest campaign organized by German national and Mallorca resident Ralf Becker, who has said that the travel restrictions are “completely over the top.”
The German protesters have threatened they could reconsider their investments on the island if not allowed to return.
Mallorca is a wildly popular holiday destination for Germans, with around 4.5 million of them traveling to the island last year.
The Spanish government is holding fast in its decision to limit travel, wary of a second coronavirus outbreak as it slowly relaxes lockdown measures. Over 27,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Spain, making it one of the worst-affected countries. Sea and air travel to the country is currently limited to Spanish nationals and permanent residents as well as people in certain professions. The restrictions are expected to stay in place for the duration of the country’s state of emergency, which could be extended to end late June.
05:28 Up to 20 million people in the EU may have already lost their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis, according to estimates from a European trade union. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which represents workers at a European level, said that at least 15 million and as many as 20 million are already out of work. Another 42 million people have seen reduced working hours or similar schemes introduced.
“Of course it depends a lot on the different countries, the different industries, and the measures that different countries have implemented,” ETUC General-Secretary Luca Visentini said in Brussels.
According to Visentini, one source of this job loss is the lack of access to a reduced hours working scheme.
“At the beginning of the lockdown, only 16 out of the 27 EU countries had some sort of reduced working hours or income compensation measure,” Visentini said. By mid-April, all countries had followed suit, he said.
Such reduced working hours schemes allow employers, backed by government support, to keep employees at home in times of economic crisis without having to lay them off. Workers continue to receive an income.
In terms of job security in the coronavirus crisis era, Visentini said there are big differences between industries. People who work for public hospitals or in public transportation, as well as supermarket employees, are relatively well protected from job loss, he said, while those working in agriculture, food delivery, or for private nursing homes are in a much less secure position.
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 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.
kp, tg,rs/mm (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)
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