Coronavirus latest: US death toll passes 10,000
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is moved to an intensive care unit in hospital
- Deaths of COVID-19 in the US have surpassed 10,000
- Chancellor Merkel says it is too soon to roll back social distancing in Germany
Recap: Johnson in intensive care and all Monday’s main developments
Updates in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC/GMT)
02:50 Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index opened more than 3% higher, riding on Wall Street’s rally the day before, in response to declining death toll trends in Italy, Spain and New York — the hotspots of the coronavirus pandemic. Asian stocks followed suit, albeit with more modest gains.
Japan’s stock market was also responded to an unprecedented stimulus package worth around 108 trillion yen ($1 trillion), or 20% of GDP, in the world’s third-largest economy.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to officially confirm a state of emergency in seven key regions of the country, which would provide local authorities the power to request people stay at home.
02:40 Berlin is one of Germany’s most densely populated. It’s also the place where decisions are being made to enforce stricter and stricter regulations. Its residents are feeling the effects of measures taken to contain the spread of coronavirus. A team of reporters has been following several Berliners for the past few weeks. This is what they found:
02:20 The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken on a central role in the fight to stem the spread of the coronavirus. When it comes to infectious diseases like AIDS, malaria or now COVID-19, the WHO coordinates the international response. With the current pandemic, that means orchestrating research cooperation and the development of tests, medical treatments and vaccines.
On World Health Day, DW takes a look at everything the WHO does.
02:00 Here’s the latest from the Americas:
Colombia President Ivan Duque announced the extension of a nationwide quarantine to stem the spread of coronavirus. Originally set to last 19 days, ending just before midnight on April 13, Colombia will remain on lockdown until April 27.
“This isolation – which seeks the best of all of us – is exactly so we can keep saving lives, breaking the exponential growth of this pandemic,” Duque said during a live television broadcast.
Colombia closed borders, shuttered schools and shut down international passenger flights last month, as infections soared when travelers returning from Europe and the US brought the disease home.
Quarantine rules state that only one person per family is allowed out to shop for essential items or carry out financial transactions, masks are required in stores, banks and on public transport, and restaurants can operate on take-out only.
Latest figures: 1,579 infected, 46 deaths, 88 recovered
Panama The government of Panama has ordered the temporary closure of Minera Panama, one of Latin America’s largest copper producers. The company is majority-owned by Toronto-based First Quantum Minerals.
The closure was due to an outbreak of coronavirus among the mine company’s workers, health minister Rosario Turner said.
Panama has imposed a strict lockdown, shutting schools, closing borders and sharply restricting movement, to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Latest figures: 1,988 infected, 54 deaths, 13 recovered
Venezuela Hundreds of Venezuelan refugees in Colombia began returning home, due to the coronavirus pandemic that is griping the host country.
Colombian migration officials said 600 people, including 35 children and 167 women, had crossed the main border point at the Simon Bolivar International Bridge in the northeastern city of Cucuta, into Venezuela last weekend.
Although the border is officially closed, Colombia has established a “humanitarian corridor” to allow Venezuelans to return home.
Colombian police took the temperature of the departing refugees, to ensure they were free of infection and sprayed those wearing face masks with a disinfectant.
Latest figures: 159 infected, 7 deaths, 52 recovered
Brazil A report by the Brazilian army’s strategic studies center contradicted President Jair Bolsonaro’s stance on the coronavirus. The report urged for widespread isolation to fight the pandemic, fueling an already heated public debate within Bolsonaro’s government.
The study calls for reinforcing social distancing measures to slow the virus’ spread, defying the president’s statements that have sought to minimize the risks of the disease and called for states to end lockdowns.
The report endorses widespread, or “horizontal,” social distancing measures to avoid a sharp peak in infections. “Though too soon for a final evaluation, the early adoption of horizontal isolation strategies can be seen to lead to more effective results in flattening the curve,” the report said.
The study also said the government will have to take on a major role in rebuilding Brazil’s economy once the epidemic is over.
Meanwhile, Sao Paulo state, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Latin America, said it expected 111,000 deaths in the next six months, and extended its stay-at-home measures for another two weeks.
Latest figures: 12,056 infected, 553 deaths, 127 recovered
Argentina Argentina has announced it will defer its payments of up to $9.8 billion on local public debt in response to the coronavirus crisis. The government decree postponed payments just as the government of President Alberto Fernandez was negotiating with creditors to restructure $68.8 billion in private foreign debt.
The government said that the global health crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic had “altered the deadlines anticipated” in the government’s timetable for stabilizing its debt situation.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Argentina had been battling a deep economic crisis since 2018, with more than 35 percent of Argentinians living in poverty.
Latest figures: 1,554 infected, 48 deaths, 325 recovered
01:15 For the first time since it started publishing figures in January, China’s National Health Commission has reported no new deaths from coronavirus. The 32 new cases registered, all came from people who had returned from abroad.
00:45 A recent study has found that ferrets and cats can be infected with COVID-19, and can also pass the virus on to members of their species — under laboratory conditions. There is less risk with other domesticated animals.
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Is your house cat spreading the coronavirus?
To pet, or not to pet?
Researchers at the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute in China have found that the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, can be transmitted between cats. Domesticated house cats are also able to pass the virus on to members of their species, but not very easily, said Hualan Chen, a lead researcher of the paper which was published in the “bioRxiv” scientific journal on March 31.
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Is your house cat spreading the coronavirus?
Don’t worry
But cat owners shouldn’t panic. Felines quickly form antibodies to the virus, so they aren’t contagious for very long. Domestic cat owners with preexisting medical conditions, or the elderly, should temporarily restrict where their cats are able to wander. Healthy people should wash their hands thoroughly after patting them.
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Is your house cat spreading the coronavirus?
Dogs are safe
Unlike cats, the virus is unable to replicate easily in dogs, the researchers report. So you’re all clear when it comes to walking or training your pooch.
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Is your house cat spreading the coronavirus?
Who’s infecting who?
This domesticated pig out walking the streets of Rome doesn’t need to be afraid of any dogs. And, the dog needn’t be afraid of its grunting opponent, either. Pigs aren’t considered a natural reservoir for the coronavirus, the veterinarians discovered.
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Is your house cat spreading the coronavirus?
Quarantine for ferrets
Things are different for the members of the Mustelidae family. Hualan Chen also researched ferrets, and found that SARS-CoV-2 is able to reproduce in these animals, just as in cats. The transmission between the animals occurs through respiratory droplets. Researchers found the virus on swabs taken from the throat and nose of ferrets and cats, but were unable to detect any lung infections.
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Is your house cat spreading the coronavirus?
Are chickens a danger to humans?
Experts have given the all-clear for people who handle poultry, such as this trader in Wuhan, China, where scientists believe the first case of the virus emerged late last year. Humans have nothing to worry about, as chickens are practically immune to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as are ducks and other bird species.
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Is your house cat spreading the coronavirus?
When humans are a threat
People can be infected by animals, but the same can also happen in reverse. Four-year-old Malayan tiger Nadia tested positive for COVID-19 recently at the Bronx Zoo in New York. “It’s the first time, to our knowledge, that a [wild] animal has gotten sick from COVID-19 from a person,” Paul Calle, the zoo’s chief veterinarian, told “National Geographic” magazine.
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Is your house cat spreading the coronavirus?
Have bats been wrongly accused?
Bats are considered the most-likely carrier of SARS-CoV-2, but veterinarians believe that in December 2019, another species must have existed in Wuhan as an intermediate host between them and humans. Could it have been ferrets or cats?
00:25 Since 1971, aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been working around the world to help people affected by diseases, famines and natural disasters. DW examines why their commitment and experience are now needed at home — in Europe.
00:15 US President Donald Trump lashed out during his daily coronavirus briefing over a Health Department report that found US hospitals still had concerns about a shortage of testing supplies.
”It’s just wrong. It’s just wrong,” Trump said, demanding to know who had written the report.
The inspector general (watchdog) report was based on interviews with more than 300 hospitals nationwide. The report also highlighted a scarcity of protective gear, shortage of ventilators for seriously ill patients and burned-out hospital staff, anxious for their own safety.
”We’ve had more testing and had more results than any country anywhere in the world. They’re doing an incredible job,” the president continued.
”So give me the name of the inspector general. Could politics be entered into that?”
00:01 The US now has more than 10,000 deaths from coronavirus as the country enters what Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams warned would be ”the hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives.”
Latest figures from Johns Hopkins University put the death toll at 10,524 with at least 362,759 cases of infection — the highest number in the world.
New York continues to be the epicenter of the outbreak, with nearly 4,000 deaths. But Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state could be experiencing a ”flattening of the curve,” as some 599 new deaths were reported on Monday, on par with Sunday’s death count of 594 and down from 630 on Saturday.
00:00 German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump are among those who have sent their best wishes to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is currently in intensive care in London suffering from coronavirus.
Catch up on that story and all Monday’s coronavirus developments here: Coronavirus latest: Boris Johnson moves to intensive care
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.
jcg/rt (Reuters, dpa, AP, AFP)
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