Pentagon chief pours cold water on theory that coronavirus was released from a Wuhan lab, despite Trump admin investigation

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said most theories view the coronavirus as having emerged naturally, despite a government probe into a Wuhan lab.

Many migrants on U.S. deportation flight had coronavirus, Guatemalan president says

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said on Friday a large number of migrants on a deportation flight to Guatemala from the United States this week were infected with the coronavirus, adding that U.S. authorities had confirmed a dozen cases. Giammattei said 12 randomly selected people on the deportation flight tested positive for coronavirus when examined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After dozens of deportees are positive for coronavirus, U.S. deploys CDC to Guatemala to 'validate' its tests

After Guatemalan officials reported more than half of deportees on two flights from the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19, the Trump administration deploys the CDC to 'review' the country's results.

John Kerry: New Trump environmental rules will 'kill more Americans'

Former Secretary of State John Kerry charged Thursday that the Trump administration was using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover to weaken key environmental regulations that will “kill more Americans.”

Mexico Downgraded to Baa1 by Moody’s on Weak Growth Outlook

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico received a long-anticipated downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service after a year of economic contraction and persistent uncertainty.The nation’s sovereign debt was downgraded one notch to Baa1 with a negative outlook, the rating firm said in a statement. Mexico has held a solid A3 investment-grade rating since 2017, but Moody’s lowered the country’s outlook from stable to negative in June 2019.“Mexico’s medium term economic growth prospects have materially weakened,” analyst Ariane Ortiz-Bollin wrote in the decision. “The continued deterioration in Pemex’s financial and operational standing is eroding the sovereign’s fiscal strength.”Moody’s also cut Pemex’s rating two notches to Ba2, well into junk levels, fueling concerns that the state oil company’s bonds could be in line for a forced sell-off. The outlook on Pemex’s rating remains negative.The decision follows a downgrade by Fitch Ratings Inc. on Wednesday to BBB-, the lowest investment grade score, and a downgrade by S&P Global Ratings on March 26 to BBB.Mexico has been in a precarious position since the election of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in 2018. He canceled an airport project in Mexico City before even assuming office, buffeting markets and ushering in a year and a half of persistent uncertainty that has weighed on the country’s economic prospects. In 2019, Mexico’s gross domestic product contracted 0.1%, the product of a dismal investment climate domestically and global trade uncertainties.Mexico’s Finance Ministry sought to downplay the rating cut.“The institutional and economic foundations of our country are solid,” the ministry said in a statement. “In their evaluations, the rating agencies reiterate that the country has a highly credible and prudent fiscal policy record.”Additional pressure was put on the sovereign rating by state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, better known as Pemex. While the company doesn’t have an official government debt guarantee, investors worried that an effort to support the firm with continuous capital injections could undermine Mexico’s fiscal position.Still, Lopez Obrador’s government staved off a downgrade by defying market expectations and maintaining fiscal prudence. The government posted a primary budget surplus in 2019, only the third time Mexico has done so in a decade.But in the lead up to the downgrade, Mexican markets got hammered by a slide in global oil prices and fears of a continued spread of the coronavirus.(Updates with Finance Ministry comments in seventh paragraph.)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.

Turkey's coronavirus cases overtake Iran, highest in Middle East

Turkey's confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 82,329, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday, overtaking neighbouring Iran for the first time to register the highest total in the Middle East. An increase of 3,783 cases in the last 24 hours also pushed Turkey's confirmed tally within a few hundred of China, where the novel coronavirus first emerged. Koca said 121 more people have died, taking the death toll to 1,890.

Stimulus cash is being sent to dead people. Their loved ones can probably keep it.

"We don't want it. It's not who this stimulus was supposed to benefit," said one woman whose mother passed away.

Hannity Lauds South Dakota, Home of Worst U.S. Virus Cluster, for Never Having to Shut Down

Fox News host Sean Hannity touted South Dakota on Thursday night as a state that has never had to shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic, leaving unmentioned that it is home to the country’s worst coronavirus cluster.Applauding President Donald Trump’s latest guidelines for governors to explore reopening their states during the crisis, Hannity kicked off his primetime broadcast by pointing to the Upper Midwest state as a good example of an area that can quickly get back to work.“Earlier today, [Trump] unveiled—finally we can hopefully move on— the federal government’s three-phase plan to reopen America again,” he said. “Starting as early as May 1 but actually earlier in some places. South Dakota never closed—at all! Even their restaurants stayed open.”Later in Hannity’s monologue, after noting that many industries and essential businesses have remained open through the pandemic, he once again pointed to the state as an exemplar for returning to normal.“The details of this plan include what will be a data-driven, multi-layered model that allows governors to react to their own state’s unique circumstances,” Hannity said. “For example, densely populated New York City will not be on the same timeline as Montana or South Dakota, which never shut down anything.”South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, however, has come under fire recently for refusing to implement statewide stay-at-home orders even though her state’s confirmed cases have been surging and a pork processing plant in Sioux Falls has now become the largest single-source hotspot in the country. “I don’t believe it’s appropriate considering the data, the facts, and the science that we have,” Noem, a Republican, said Tuesday amid calls for her to sign a shelter-in-place order.Besides holding up a state that’s currently seeing a surge in coronavirus cases as a place that doesn’t need social distancing restrictions, the TV talk show host unveiled his personal plan to reopen Yankee Stadium and other New York City sports venues in the near future. The city, of course, is the epicenter of the pandemic and has already had more than 11,000 deaths.Hannity, who workshopped his proposal during an earlier radio interview with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, explained that his plan would call for all stadium workers to be tested for COVID-19 daily and attendees to have their temperature taken before entering the stadium. Saying he would also agree to wear a mask and gloves to attend a game, Hannity then weighed in on what concessions could be served. “You probably can’t eat popcorn because you have to keep your mask on the whole time, but you could probably eat a hot dog,” he enthusiastically proclaimed. “Open up your respirator, take a bite, and you chew it under your mask. I have to drink my beer if I’m at a game, so if I have to use a straw and slip it in, I will do that. Whatever it takes to get my beer, I want to have a beer.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

The 10 Most Challenging Puzzles To Try While You Stay Home

Beijing Admits to Undercounting Coronavirus Deaths, Raises Wuhan Death Toll by 50 Percent

The Chinese Communist Party has revised its reported death count in Wuhan by exactly 50 percent, an attempt to improve the “credibility of the government” as residents and experts have warned the actual count is far higher that what's been previously reported.In an interview Friday with the Xinhua state news agency, officials pointed to unreported deaths at homes as the reason for the revision, to show "accountability to history, to the people and the victims," and to promote "open and transparent disclosure of information and data accuracy." Deaths rose 1,290 to 3,869 in the revised number.But Wuhan residents have warned that the death count is at least 40,000, pointing to increased demands on funeral homes and cremation numbers, which the government has censored  reporting on. U.S. intelligence has also told the White House that mid-level bureaucrats in Wuhan have been lying about the number of cases, with some experts estimating that the total caseload in China could be close to three million, way above the official count of over 82,000 officially confirmed cases.“The provinces report nonsense, such as Jiangsu with zero deaths in a population of 80 million,” Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute told National Review. “The lessons China learned are all wasted, even harmful if decision-makers elsewhere believe China is offering accurate information and represents a model.”Wuhan lifted its total lockdown earlier this month, but city doctors have warned that tens of thousands of asymptomatic cases could exist, in comments that were subsequently removed from publication by the government.

China says there has never been a cover-up on coronavirus outbreak

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday there has never been a cover-up of the coronavirus outbreak in China and the government does not allow any cover-ups. Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing that the revision of the case toll in Wuhan, where the epidemic first emerged in late 2019, was the result of a statistical verification to ensure accuracy and that revision is a common international practice. Wuhan's health authority earlier on Thursday revised up its cumulative death toll by 50% to 3,869 to rectify what it called incorrect reporting, delays and omissions.

Turkish Banks Ask Regulator to Help Smooth Tensions With Erdogan

IMF, World Bank pledge help amid calls for more debt relief

The 189-nation International Monetary Fund and its sister lending agency, the World Bank, on Friday pledged to step up their efforts to cushion the blow to the global economy from the coronavirus pandemic. The two agencies' assurance came at the end of their spring meeting where they heard calls for them to provide more debt relief to poorer nations being battered by the health crisis. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President David Malpass both stressed that their agencies are well aware of the rising threat from a health crisis that is expected to plunge the global economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Jeff Bezos Buys a Fourth Apartment in a Luxe Manhattan Building

It seems the Amazon CEO has plans to create a multi-floor dream home overlooking Madison Square Park

Essential Gifts for Bakers That Go Beyond the Kitchen

Small-business loan program ran out of money within minutes, some banks say

“It was Hunger Games,” said one senior banking executive.

Biden looks to placate Sanders by letting him keep delegates

Seeking to avoid the bitter feelings that marred the 2016 Democratic convention, Joe Biden’s campaign is angling to allow Bernie Sanders to keep some of the delegates he would otherwise forfeit by dropping out of the presidential race. Under a strict application of party rules, Sanders should lose about a third of the delegates he’s won in primaries and caucuses as the process moves ahead and states select the actual people who will attend the Democratic National Convention. The rules say those delegates should be Biden supporters, as he is the only candidate still actively seeking the party’s nomination.

CDC Wants to Know if Some Sailors on Stricken Carrier Developed Coronavirus Immunity

Medical personnel will take a nasal swab sample and blood tests for sailors on the carrier, which remains docked in Guam.

Fact check: Trump did host rallies, play golf as as COVID-19 outbreak ramped up

A social media post implied that President Donald Trump was golfing or campaigning as the coronavirus spread. We find this to be true.

Asia virus latest: China revises death toll, Duterte threatens crackdown

The Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged raised its death toll by 50 percent to a total of 3,869. The revision came as a growing chorus of world leaders suggested China had not been entirely open about the full domestic impact of the virus. The additional deaths in Wuhan were cases that were "mistakenly reported" or missed entirely, according to the official announcement.

Unapproved Chinese coronavirus antibody tests being used in at least 2 states

Some Chinese-made COVID-19 antibody tests being used in the U.S. were not approved by China's FDA. China has now barred their export.

10 nurses were suspended from a California hospital for refusing to treat coronavirus patients without N95 masks

The nurses at Providence St. John's Medical Center in Santa Monica started to make the demands after a colleague tested positive for the coronavirus.

5 Childhood Conditions That Don’t Require a Trip to the E.R.

By BY JACOB E. OSTERHOUT from NYT Parenting https://ift.tt/2RKHdug

Coronavirus: China outbreak city Wuhan raises death toll by 50%

The revision of Wuhan's toll comes amid growing scepticism over the transparency of China's response.

Pompeo hopes virus causes global rethink on Huawei

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced hope Friday that countries will find new reason to reject Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei after watching Beijing's handling of the coronavirus outbreak. "I am very confident that... this moment, where the Chinese Communist Party failed to be transparent and open and handle data in an appropriate way, will cause many, many countries to rethink what they were doing with respect to their telecom architecture," Pompeo told Fox Business in an interview. "When Huawei comes knocking to sell them equipment and hardware," Pompeo said, he hoped "that they will have a different prism through which to view that decision."

Here's what it sounds like when a contact tracer calls to tell you that you might have been exposed to the coronavirus

When a disease detective comes calling, warning you that you might have caught someone else's COVID-19 infection, it sounds like this.

Senate fails to provide more coronavirus relief money for small businesses

A government loan program for small businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic is out of funds, and there's disagreement on how to replenish it.

UK tells doctors to treat COVID-19 patients without full-length gowns due to shortage: report

British healthcare staff have been advised to treat COVID-19 patients without full-length protective gowns due to shortages of equipment, the Guardian newspaper reported on Friday. Health minister Matt Hancock told a committee of lawmakers earlier that Britain was "tight on gowns" but had 55,000 more arriving on Friday and was aiming to get the right equipment where it was needed by the end of this weekend. The Guardian reported that with hospitals across England set to run out of supplies within hours, Public Health England had changed guidelines which stipulated full-length, waterproof surgical gowns should be worn for high-risk hospital procedures.

Trump didn't bail out trucking, but he did give 4 truck drivers a mysterious gold key at White House ceremony. Nobody knows why.

"We have a little special award," President Donald Trump said. Unfortunately for truck drivers, it was not a bailout.

Dallas Homeless Shelter Evacuated After 38 Contract Coronavirus

By BY MICHAEL LEVENSON from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3beDA7A

friday

By Unknown Author from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/2XKKQ7t

The Story of Remdesivir

By BY BRET STEPHENS from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2Kedshl

Nigerian president's chief of staff dies from coronavirus: presidency spokesman

The Nigerian president's chief of staff, Abba Kyari, died on Friday after contracting the new coronavirus, two presidency spokesmen said on Twitter.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2wR8unG

Mexico registers 578 new cases of coronavirus, 60 new deaths

Mexican health officials reported on Friday 578 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 60 new deaths, bringing the country's total to 6,875 cases and 546 deaths.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/34JOuzO

Britons warned to avoid unapproved coronavirus tests

Britons should not purchase unapproved antibody tests to find out if they have had the coronavirus, the official in charge of the government's testing program said on Saturday, warning that they could not be relied upon and may put people at risk.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/34JCjDb

After dozens of deportees are positive for coronavirus, U.S. deploys CDC to Guatemala to 'validate' its tests

After Guatemalan officials reported more than half of deportees on two flights from the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19, the Trump administration deploys the CDC to 'review' the country's results.

Jeff Bezos reportedly buys 4th condo in NYC for $16 million and now owns nearly $100 million in property in one building alone

The latest purchase would be on top of the $80 million worth of real estate Jeff Bezos already owns in the same New York City building.

Africa may see millions of coronavirus cases, tentative WHO forecast shows

Coronavirus cases in Africa could shoot up from thousands now to 10 million within three to six months according to very provisional modelling, a regional World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday. The world's poorest continent has seen more than 17,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease and about 900 deaths so far - relatively little compared to some other regions. "We are concerned that the virus continues to spread geographically, within countries," said Matshidiso Moeti, director for WHO's Africa region, which comprises 46 sub-Saharan nations and Algeria.

I waited in line for more than 2 hours to take the coronavirus antibody test and got my results in 10 minutes — here's what it was like

The drive-thru antibody test for coronavirus took Jon Rettinger of California just 10 minutes from start to finish. His test came back negative.

Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen to serve out prison sentence at home

President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and longtime fixer Michael Cohen will be released from federal prison to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cohen is currently locked up at FCI Otisville in New York after pleading guilty to numerous charges, including campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress. After he is released, Cohen will serve the remainder of his sentence at home, according to a Justice Department official and another person familiar with the matter.

Michigan Gov. Whitmer says she hopes to have 'some relaxing' of stay-at-home order by May 1

The Democratic governor did not elaborate Friday on which part of the order she might be willing to lift.

American Shipments of Coronavirus Supplies Stranded in China Under Export Restrictions

American companies have seen their shipments of coronavirus medical equipment, such as face masks and test kits, stranded in China after the country implemented new export restrictions this month.The shipments of personal protective equipment and other medical equipment currently remain in warehouses in China, unable to obtain the new clearances required to be shipped out of the country.About 1.4 million coronavirus test kits made by Massachusetts-based PerkinElmer are not able to leave the company's Suzhou factory under the new restrictions, according to a State Department document obtained by the Wall Street Journal.The document also noted that Minnesota-based 3M was told by a Shanghai vice mayor that Shanghai “relies on 3M’s locally produced N-95 respirators for its Covid-19 prevention efforts and lacks viable alternatives.” Lifting the restrictions would require permission from the upper echelons of the Chinese government, the mayor indicated, according to the State Department.General Electric was able to extract its shipment of parts needed to make ventilators after days of negotiations. Other companies, however, have not been able to do the same. Healthcare logistics company Owens & Minor, hospital operator Emory Healthcare, and biotech company Cellex have been unable to ship their medical equipment, which includes N95 face masks, isolation gowns, and coronavirus antibody tests.China's rules governing exports “disrupted established supply chains for medical products just as these products were most needed for the global response to Covid-19,” one of the State Department documents said. Beijing has said the rules were meant to ensure quality control of medical products and to prevent necessary items from leaving China“Countries across the world are all hunting for medical supplies, causing a big challenge for China’s efforts of quality control and regulation of export,” the Chinese Embassy in Washington said.U.S. ambassador to China Terry Branstad said Wednesday that he does not believe China is intentionally blocking exports to the U.S. of medical supplies required to fight the pandemic."Yes, they want to enforce their laws and regulations," the ambassador said. "We’re trying to say let’s use some common sense in doing this, and if it’s Food and Drug Administration approved and companies like 3M have already been shipping these things to the United States, it doesn’t make sense to hold them up when we feel confident that it meets the quality requirements that we have."U.S. officials have criticized U.S. dependence on Chinese supply chains for medical products as the coronavirus outbreak has caused shortages of desperately needed medical equipment in hospitals across the country.“Unfortunately, like others, we are learning in this crisis that over-dependence on other countries as a source of cheap medical products and supplies has created a strategic vulnerability to our economy,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said early this month.

Italy's coronavirus death toll rises by 525, new cases push higher

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy increased by 525 on Thursday, down from 578 the day before, but the number of new cases accelerated sharply to 3,786 from a previous 2,667. The daily death toll was the lowest since Sunday, while the tally of new infections was the highest since Sunday. The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 rose to 22,170, the Civil Protection Agency said, the second highest in the world after that of the United States.

Mexican president says Trump promised 1,000 ventilators

Mexico’s president said Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump has promised Mexico will be able to buy 1,000 ventilators and other intensive-therapy equipment used in treating severe cases of COVID-19. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he spoke with Trump Friday about Mexico’s request to purchase the machines, relatively few of which are available in Mexico. López Obrador wrote in his Twitter account that Trump “guaranteed me that by the end of this month we would 1,000, and we can acquire more.”