Coronavirus latest: Trump to halt US green cards for 60 days

• President Trump said the issuing of US green cards, or permanent residency cards, will be suspended for at least 60 days — but with “certain exceptions” yet to be defined.
• Trump’s immigration order does not apply to those entering the country “on a temporary basis”
• The UN has warned that vulnerable countries could face famine over the fallout of the pandemic
• The US distances from pro-WHO resolution after endorsing it

Updates in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC/GMT)

03:27 Thirty-four crew members aboard Costa Atlantica, an Italian cruise ship, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the city of Nagasaki in Japan. The cruise ship had docked in Japan in late January to undergo repairs. One person had tested positive on board the ship yesterday, and 33 others were known to be infected with the virus today. Local officials said the infected people did not have severe symptoms.

The ship has 623 crew members and no passengers on board. Japan’s health minister said ministry officials and experts from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases would be sent to the ship.

01:59 A US-government funded study has found that hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug widely considered effective in combating COVID-19, may not benefit those affected with the disease. The study states that the drug may be associated with more deaths from the novel coronavirus. 
According to the study, the death rate for patients who were administered the malaria drug stood at 28%, while the death rate was 22% when hydroxychloroquine was combined with azithromycin, an antibiotic drug. The death rate for those who receive standard care was 11%, reported AFP. 

However, the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, has several limitations. The study did not assign people randomly into groups, as it analyzed past medical records of 368 military veterans in the US who either died or were discharged before April 11. The people analyzed were mainly black males, with a median age of more than 65, a group that is disproportionately affected by underlying illnesses. 

01:00: More than 70% of businesses in the UK have put at least some staff on furlough due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a poll by the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC). Last week, the same survey revealed that 66% of UK businesses had put at least some staff on leave.

About 30% of the businesses have put 75%-100% of their staff on leave. The BCC said that firms are increasingly putting their staff on leave in anticipation of the government’s Job Retention Scheme, which will go live on April 20. Under the scheme, the government will pay businesses 80% of the salaries of staff put on leave. “It is now critical that payments from the furlough scheme reach businesses as smoothly and as quickly as possible in order to protect jobs and livelihoods,” Adam Marshall, the director general of the BCC said.

00:42 Harvard Universityhas rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to return the money it had received from the federal relief funds over the coronavirus pandemic. Previously, reports surfaced that Harvard was one of big-name institutions claiming loans intended for small businesses and restarting the US economy.

“Harvard is going to pay back the money,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday, noting that the prestigious university already had billions at its disposal. “They shouldn’t be taking it,” he added.

Harvard University, however, quickly denied claiming the money intended for struggling companies, while admitting it had received $8.6 million (over €7.9 million) under an emergency program to help US higher education

“Like most colleges and universities, Harvard has been allocated funds as part of the CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund,” the university said, adding that it was “committed” to use 100% of these funds to “provide direct assistance to students facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

01:00 The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) in its latest weekly tracker poll said that 71% of respondents had furloughed staff owing to the impact of the coronavirus. This is a rise of 5% from a week earlier. The BCC said that the increase in furloughing staff was in anticipation of the Job Retention Scheme that will be released on April 20. 
The program intends to pay businesses 80% of the salaries of staff who have been put on leave. “It is now critical that payments from the furlough scheme reach businesses as smoothly and as quickly as possible in order to protect jobs and livelihoods,” Adam Marshall, the director general of the BCC said.
About 30% of the total respondents said that they had furloughed 75-100% of their workforce. The survey also revealed that 59% of the respondents had just three months of cash in reserve or less.

00:15 The US backtracked from a UN resolution that it endorsed yesterday, and which emphasized the “crucial leading role” of the World Health Organization (WHO) in fighting the pandemic. All 193 UN members voted for the Mexican-drafted initiative.

On Tuesday, the US said it was still “seriously concerned with the lack of independence that the WHO has shown since the beginning of this pandemic.” In a clarification published on their UN mission website, the US diplomats also warned that “the creation of layers of UN bureaucracy devoid of controls to ensure independence, accountability, and transparency, is both unnecessary and unwise.”

Previously, US President Donald Trump berated the UN health agency and accusedi it of pro-China bias. His administration suspended US funding for the body last week.

00:13 The US Navy hospital ship deployed off Manhattan is no longer needed, New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo said, following a slow drop in the state hospitalization rates. Only 178 coronavirus patients have so far been treated aboard USNS Comfort.

“It did give us comfort, but we don’t need it anymore,” Cuomo said. ”So if they need to deploy that somewhere else, they should take it.”

The US state is still heavily hit by the pandemic, but the number of hospitalized patients has dropped by over 2,000 since last week and is now at about 16,000.

Over 250,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 across the state and 14,828 have died.

00:05: The US state of Missouri has filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government over its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, the state’s Attorney General Eric Schmitt has said. The lawsuit claims that between December and January 23, 2020, the Chinese government concealed the seriousness of the outbreak to the world. The lawsuit further alleges that China denied the risk of human-to-human transmission, silenced whistleblowers and hoarded personal protective equipment. Sovereign immunity, however, protects China from being sued by a state.

However, Schmitt said that his legal argument is valid as he is considering the Communist Party of China as a non-state actor. China has consistently denied the accusation that it delayed revealing details of the severity of the pandemic.

00:00 US President Donald Trump vowed to sign an executive order to “temporarily suspend” issuing of green cards for at least the next 60 days. The green card allows immigrants to gain permanent residency in the US and opens a path to US citizenship.

Trump added that the new order the new executive order “will not apply to those entering on a temporary basis.”

Addressing reporters at the daily White House briefing, Trump said the ban would help US nationals find work in the aftermath of the pandemic.

“It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad,” he said. “We must first take care of the American worker.” 

The lockdowns and closure of bussinesses have already drove US unemployment numbers to record heights.

Catch up on Tuesday coronavirus news here: Coronavirus as it happened: US Senate passes $480 billion stimulus package

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.

dj/stb (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)

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