U.S. now leads world in deaths, day after Trump announces 'opening our country' task force

As the president mulls when restrictive coronavirus measures might start to be lifted, the U.S. passed a grim milestone of leading the world in deaths from the virus.

Some Veterans May Need to Take This Extra Step to Get Their Stimulus Check

Make sure your economic stimulus check isn't delayed.

UK pledges 200 million pounds in aid to help stop second coronavirus wave

Britain said on Sunday it was pledging 200 million pounds ($248 million) to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and charities to help slow the spread of the coronavirus in vulnerable countries and so help prevent a second wave of infections.

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North Korea calls for stricter anti-epidemic measures

North Korea called for more strict and thorough countermeasures to ensure the safety of its citizens from the fast spreading coronavirus pandemic at a political bureau meeting of the ruling party's central committee, which was presided over by its leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported on Sunday.

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Saudi King approves extension of curfew until further notice: SPA

Saudi Arabia's King Salman approved an extension of the kingdom's curfew until further notice due to the rate at which the coronavirus is currently spreading, the state news agency (SPA) reported early on Sunday.

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Canadian legislators approve wage subsidy as coronavirus spreads

Canadian government and opposition legislators approved a wage subsidy worth C$73 billion ($52 billion) on Saturday to support the ravaged economy, in an emergency sitting in the House of Commons.

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Fight Over Texas Abortion Ban Reaches Supreme Court

By BY ADAM LIPTAK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3b3U56l

Pence suggests coronavirus social distancing won’t end soon

At the daily briefing of the White House coronavirus task force on Thursday evening, Vice President Mike Pence indicated that the end to those restrictions might not come anytime soon. 

Boeing's Washington facilities closed indefinitely due to COVID-19. Take a look at the greatest successes and failures which were built there.

Boeing has been building iconic passenger aircraft at three production facilities in the Seattle area since World War II.

20,000: US death toll overtakes Italy's as Midwest braces

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed Italy's for the highest in the world Saturday, surpassing 20,000, as Chicago and other cities across the Midwest braced for a potential surge in victims and moved to snuff out smoldering hot spots of contagion before they erupt. Chicago's Cook County has set up a temporary morgue that can take more than 2,000 bodies. In Europe, countries used roadblocks, drones, helicopters, mounted patrols and the threat of fines to keep people from traveling over Easter weekend.

Faulty masks. Flawed tests. China's quality control problem in leading global COVID-19 fight

Chinese companies producing faulty testing kits and masks are marring Beijing's attempts to assert leadership in the fight against the coronavirus.

'We've taken nothing off the table': US Defense Secretary open to reinstating fired navy captain who sent letter asking for coronavirus help

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he would consider reinstating US Navy Captain Brett Crozier, who was relieved of duty from the USS Theodore Roosevelt after sending a letter requesting the ship be evacuated over a spreading coronavirus infestation on board."We've taken nothing off the table," Mr Esper told CBS News. "My inclination is always to support the chain of command, and to take the recommendations seriously."

In parts of Africa, police are accused of excess force amid coronavirus lockdowns

Days after Congo announced emergency restrictions to curb the new coronavirus, a police video started circulating online showing an officer in the capital beating a taxi driver for violating a one-passenger limit. Sylvano Kasongo, who heads the Kinshasa police and is seen in the March 26 video, sent a copy to Reuters because he said he wanted to encourage others to obey the rules. The force respects human rights, he said.

Cheap beef and wasted milk: US agriculture struggles with virus

Milk dumped in fields and cattle prices plunging even as steaks stay expensive: the coronavirus pandemic is hitting American farmers hard. With industries from restaurants to department stores forced to close, farmers haven't stopped working, but are finding demand unpredictable and supply chains are struggling to adapt to the new conditions. Dairy farmers often struggle to store excess production, and Brenda Cochran, who runs a 70-cow dairy farm in Pennsylvania along with her husband, said she was ordered twice recently to dump her milk.

Thousands of US nursing home patients have died of coronavirus — far higher than the federal government has reported

In New York, the epicenter of the outbreak, some nursing homes have been forced to convert spare rooms to makeshift morgues.

Are schools open? Governor, NYC mayor give different answers

Governor and mayor locked horns again Saturday, this time over whether school buildings in the nation's largest district would close for the rest of the year, with classes continuing online. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news briefing that public school sites in the city's 1.1 million-student school district would shutter for the rest of the academic year to curb the spread of the coronavirus. “It is my legal authority in this situation, yes,” Cuomo said.

Exclusive: Russia collecting intelligence on U.S. supply line failures amid coronavirus crisis, DHS warns

Russian spies are using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to collect intelligence on U.S. supply lines, which have struggled to provide sufficient medical equipment, according to an intelligence report issued earlier this week by the Department of Homeland Security and obtained by Yahoo News.

'End of the beginning?' Governor invokes Churchill to suggest New York deaths may be levelling off

In his Saturday pandemic briefing, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo invoked Winston Churchill as he updated the state’s grim death toll, but observed that the data implies that the impact of the coronavirus may be levelling off.“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning,” the governor said, quoting the wartime British prime minister.

Iran renews coronavirus warning as 'low risk' activities re-start

President Hassan Rouhani urged Iranians to continue to respect measures to guard against the new coronavirus as "low-risk" business activities resumed in most of the country on Saturday, state news agency IRNA reported. "Easing restrictions does not mean ignoring health protocols ... Social distancing and other health protocols should be respected seriously by people," Rouhani was quoted saying. In Qom, a city of 1.2 million which was the early epicentre of Iran's coronavirus outbreak, some 24,000 businesses were expected to re-open, state TV said.

African community targeted in China virus crackdown

Africans in southern China's largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as Beijing steps up its fight against imported infections, drawing US accusations of xenophobia. China says it has largely curbed its COVID-19 outbreak but a recent cluster of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials. Local authorities in the industrial centre of 15 million said at least eight people diagnosed with the illness had spent time in the city's Yuexiu district, known as "Little Africa".

On post-COVID-19 reopening, Trump weighs 'biggest decision of my life'

President Trump said Friday that determining when it will be safe to drop social distancing guidelines to stop the spread of the coronavirus is "the biggest decision I've ever had to make.”  

More than 370,000 people have recovered from COVID-19. Here's what we know about coronavirus survivors.

Recovered COVID-19 patients may have residual cough or fatigue for weeks after the major symptoms disappear, and some could have lasting lung damage.

U.K. Not Ready to Ease Lockdown as Daily Death Toll Reaches 980

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. does not yet have the evidence it needs to ease restrictions on movement imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, as officials reported 980 deaths in a single day.As Prime Minister Boris Johnson begins his recovery in hospital, officials are working on a strategy to exit lockdown measures but the outbreak has not yet reached the point at which curbs can be removed. The government’s emergency committee will review the restrictions next week.Boris Johnson Kept on Working, But Then the Virus Took Over“The information that we do have so far shows that we’re not there yet,” Hancock said at a televised briefing when asked about the government’s data on the outbreak. “The most important message is to stay at home, because that’s what saves lives.”While Johnson’s medical and scientific advisers warned the lockdown may last for weeks or even months, pressure is building on ministers to reveal their plan for easing restrictions once the U.K. is judged to be past the peak of the outbreak.The economic and social cost of keeping people indoors is becoming more evident, including a rise in cases of domestic abuse, missed treatments for life-threatening illnesses, and beleaguered retailers warning they are on the brink of collapse in spite of government offers of support.‘Huge Problems’Hancock said he is “very alive to” the effect of the lockdown on people’s lives and said he’s working with Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak on the issue.“We do not yet have an established estimate of the impact of the huge problems in the economy that have been caused and the impact on the health of the nation, but it’s a piece of work I’m working on jointly with the chancellor,” Hancock said. “To make sure that when we make the big policy decisions -- especially around social-distancing -- we take into account the entire impact on the health and wellbeing of everyone in the country.”With good weather forecast for much of the long holiday weekend, ministers are anxious to avoid scenes of people gathering in groups in parks, seaside resorts and beauty spots. The government rolled out an advertising campaign on social media and in print urging Britons to stay home, protect the National Health Service and save lives over the Easter break.The death toll from the virus rose by a further 980 -- the highest daily total so far -- to bring the total to 8,958 in the latest data published Friday.UnprotectedHancock announced a plan to improve the provision of protective equipment to health service and social care staff to avoid them catching the virus. Supply chains have been stepped up and domestic manufacturers, including Burberry, have switched their facilities to producing protective garments, he said.The government has faced criticism amid reports of frontline staff working without equipment including masks and gowns, and the British Medical Association said this week more than two-thirds of doctors have said they don’t feel safely protected where they work.Hancock risked further anger from health workers when he said the use of personal protective equipment, known as PPE, should be limited to those who really need it.“Everyone should use the equipment they clinically need in line with the guidelines, no more, no less,” he said. “We need everyone to treat PPE like the precious resource that it is.”LockdownWhen the U.K. imposed sweeping restrictions on movement on March 23, Johnson said the measures would be reviewed in three weeks -- a deadline that falls on Monday. The lockdown has brought the economy to a near halt and triggered a surge in the number of people claiming welfare payments for the first time.But it will be “several more weeks” before scientists will be able to draw conclusions about the rate of decline in cases and recommend any lifting of measures, Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist who advises the government, told BBC Radio 4 on Friday. That’s despite “preliminary evidence” the restrictions are working better than anticipated, he said.The government and its scientific advisers are working on an exit strategy as a top priority, according to Ferguson, and will likely consider age and geography in a staggered lifting of restrictions. He also called for widespread testing to identify cases and track transmissions.“We clearly don’t want these measures to continue any longer than is absolutely necessary, the economic costs, social costs, personal and health costs are huge,” he said. “But we do want to find a set of policies which maintains suppression” of the virus.Following a call late Thursday with opposition parties described by Johnson’s office as “constructive,” new Labour Party leader Keir Starmer called on the government to publish its strategy for exiting the lockdown.Yet the government faces making a critical choice -- which risks triggering a second wave of infections if restrictions are lifted too early, or paralyzing the economy if left too late -- without Johnson, at least in the short term.When Johnson, who is now able to take short walks in the hospital, returns to work will be “on the advice of his medical team,” his spokesman James Slack said. The premier’s recovery “is at an early stage,” he told reporters on a conference call.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

‘Se está viviendo una tragedia’: en el epicentro del virus en Nueva York

By BY ANNIE CORREAL, ANDREW JACOBS AND RYAN CHRISTOPHER JONES from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/2VlQI42

Al Kaline Wondered if He Should Have Been a Doctor

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A Bit of Relief: ‘Soup Is Soup’

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Covid-19 and the Big Government Problem

By BY BRET STEPHENS from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3c7czmE

We Left New York With Clothes, Our Cat and Three Bottles of Disinfectant

By BY MIRA JACOB from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/34qyNNM

Andy González, Prolific Latin Jazz Bassist, Is Dead at 69

By BY NEIL GENZLINGER from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/3ecK8pf

Saudi, Russia outline record oil cut under U.S. pressure as demand crashes

OPEC, Russia and other allies outlined plans on Thursday to cut their oil output by more than a fifth and said they expected the United States and other producers to join in their effort to prop up prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis. The planned output curbs by OPEC+ amount to 10 million barrels per day (bpd) or 10% of global supplies, with another 5 million bpd expected to come from other nations to help deal with the deepest oil crisis in decades. Global fuel demand has plunged by around 30 million bpd, or 30% of global supplies, as steps to fight the virus have grounded planes, cut vehicle usage and curbed economic activity.

General says coronavirus may affect more Navy ships

Pentagon leaders anticipate that the coronavirus may strike more Navy ships at sea after an outbreak aboard an aircraft carrier in the Pacific infected more than 400 sailors, a top general said Thursday. Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said one member of the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt was hospitalized Thursday in intensive care on Guam, where the carrier has been docked for more than a week. “It’s not a good idea to think that the Teddy Roosevelt is a one-of-a-kind issue,” Hyten told a Pentagon news conference.

'Hope to God it's the right decision': Trump to name new coronavirus task force focused on 'reopening'

The makeup of Trump's second coronavirus taskforce could signal his thinking on reopening the nation as federal guidelines are set to expire this month.

U.K. Not Ready to Ease Lockdown as Daily Death Toll Reaches 980

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. does not yet have the evidence it needs to ease restrictions on movement imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, as officials reported 980 deaths in a single day.As Prime Minister Boris Johnson begins his recovery in hospital, officials are working on a strategy to exit lockdown measures but the outbreak has not yet reached the point at which curbs can be removed. The government’s emergency committee will review the restrictions next week.Boris Johnson Kept on Working, But Then the Virus Took Over“The information that we do have so far shows that we’re not there yet,” Hancock said at a televised briefing when asked about the government’s data on the outbreak. “The most important message is to stay at home, because that’s what saves lives.”While Johnson’s medical and scientific advisers warned the lockdown may last for weeks or even months, pressure is building on ministers to reveal their plan for easing restrictions once the U.K. is judged to be past the peak of the outbreak.The economic and social cost of keeping people indoors is becoming more evident, including a rise in cases of domestic abuse, missed treatments for life-threatening illnesses, and beleaguered retailers warning they are on the brink of collapse in spite of government offers of support.‘Huge Problems’Hancock said he is “very alive to” the effect of the lockdown on people’s lives and said he’s working with Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak on the issue.“We do not yet have an established estimate of the impact of the huge problems in the economy that have been caused and the impact on the health of the nation, but it’s a piece of work I’m working on jointly with the chancellor,” Hancock said. “To make sure that when we make the big policy decisions -- especially around social-distancing -- we take into account the entire impact on the health and wellbeing of everyone in the country.”With good weather forecast for much of the long holiday weekend, ministers are anxious to avoid scenes of people gathering in groups in parks, seaside resorts and beauty spots. The government rolled out an advertising campaign on social media and in print urging Britons to stay home, protect the National Health Service and save lives over the Easter break.The death toll from the virus rose by a further 980 -- the highest daily total so far -- to bring the total to 8,958 in the latest data published Friday.UnprotectedHancock announced a plan to improve the provision of protective equipment to health service and social care staff to avoid them catching the virus. Supply chains have been stepped up and domestic manufacturers, including Burberry, have switched their facilities to producing protective garments, he said.The government has faced criticism amid reports of frontline staff working without equipment including masks and gowns, and the British Medical Association said this week more than two-thirds of doctors have said they don’t feel safely protected where they work.Hancock risked further anger from health workers when he said the use of personal protective equipment, known as PPE, should be limited to those who really need it.“Everyone should use the equipment they clinically need in line with the guidelines, no more, no less,” he said. “We need everyone to treat PPE like the precious resource that it is.”LockdownWhen the U.K. imposed sweeping restrictions on movement on March 23, Johnson said the measures would be reviewed in three weeks -- a deadline that falls on Monday. The lockdown has brought the economy to a near halt and triggered a surge in the number of people claiming welfare payments for the first time.But it will be “several more weeks” before scientists will be able to draw conclusions about the rate of decline in cases and recommend any lifting of measures, Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist who advises the government, told BBC Radio 4 on Friday. That’s despite “preliminary evidence” the restrictions are working better than anticipated, he said.The government and its scientific advisers are working on an exit strategy as a top priority, according to Ferguson, and will likely consider age and geography in a staggered lifting of restrictions. He also called for widespread testing to identify cases and track transmissions.“We clearly don’t want these measures to continue any longer than is absolutely necessary, the economic costs, social costs, personal and health costs are huge,” he said. “But we do want to find a set of policies which maintains suppression” of the virus.Following a call late Thursday with opposition parties described by Johnson’s office as “constructive,” new Labour Party leader Keir Starmer called on the government to publish its strategy for exiting the lockdown.Yet the government faces making a critical choice -- which risks triggering a second wave of infections if restrictions are lifted too early, or paralyzing the economy if left too late -- without Johnson, at least in the short term.When Johnson, who is now able to take short walks in the hospital, returns to work will be “on the advice of his medical team,” his spokesman James Slack said. The premier’s recovery “is at an early stage,” he told reporters on a conference call.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Lockdown in West Bank, crowds in Gaza: Palestinians divided over coronavirus

Political and physical divisions between Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have induced two very different responses to the coronavirus pandemic, with a strict lockdown in the first and crowds milling about freely in the second. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which has 250 recorded cases of the COVID-19 lung disease, a lockdown on public life was swiftly imposed - Bethlehem was sealed off after the first outbreak in March and a state of emergency declared. Forty km (25 miles) apart and separated by Israel, the West Bank and Gaza have no direct link between them.

Coronavirus: New York has more cases than any country

Photos emerge of workers in hazmat outfits stacking coffins in a mass grave in New York City.

Roosevelt Sailor with COVID-19 Found Unresponsive in Guam

The sailor is a member of the crew of the carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which reported its first cases of COVID-19 on March 24.

Saudi cease-fire takes effect in Yemen, rebels suspect ploy

A cease-fire proposed by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen went into effect Thursday, potentially paving the way for peace talks to end the more than 5-year-old conflict. Houthi rebels, who control northern Yemen and the capital, Sanaa, quickly dismissed the offer as a ploy by the kingdom to boost its international standing while a spokesman for the rebel forces accused the coalition of several attacks on Thursday. “The Saudis are still employing their air, land and naval forces to tighten the siege on Yemen ... this is an announcement only to restore (their positions), to close ranks.”

Letters to the Editor: Why is the federal government seizing medical supply orders?

Trump doesn't want the states asking Washington for help, but his administration is seizing medical orders from providers. Why?