Country hits grisly milestone as WHO says pandemic is entering ‘new and dangerous phase’
The president’s decision to hold his first rally since the coronavirus lockdown in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has ignited fresh controversy. The city was home to one of America’s worst ever acts of racial violence in 1921, a moment marked in recent Black Lives Matter protests, and Oklahoma is now seeing a new wave of coronavirus infections. So why has Trump chosen Tulsa?
Asian equities were mixed Friday after fluctuating through the week as traders try to pick a way through a number of opposing issues, with the easing of lockdowns and mostly improving economic data offset by geopolitical tensions and second wave worries, AFP reports.
After three months of big gains across the planet - fuelled by the reopening of economies as well as trillions of dollars in government and central bank support - markets appear to be levelling out as investors await the next major catalyst, such as a vaccine.
But, while countries continue to ease business and jobs-destroying containment measures the virus is spiking in several places including Beijing, Tokyo, Germany, Florida and Texas.
“Concerns over the spread of Covis-19 in some US states in particular where hospitalisation rates are rising, and also following the recent outbreak in Beijing, continue to cast something of a pall over markets,” said Ray Attrill at National Australia Bank.
Adding to the unease are simmering tensions between the two Koreas as well as China and India following a deadly border skirmish this week in the Himalayas.
Donald Trump added to the uncertainty Thursday by tweeting that the US “certainly does maintain a policy option, under various conditions, of a complete decoupling from China. Thank you!”
In early trade Hong Kong dipped 0.3% and Shanghai rose 0.3% while Tokyo went into the break 0.1% higher.
Sydney jumped 0.9%, Jakarta added 0.8% and Wellington was 0.5% higher, though Seoul, Singapore and Manila were in the red.
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute has issued a correction of the coronavirus figures: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 770 to 188,534. The reported death toll rose by 16 to 8,872, the tally showed.
Earlier, the institute said cases had increased by 504.
Brazilian football resumed after a three-month hiatus on Thursday night, with Flamengo beating Bangu 3-0 at an empty Maracana stadium in the first game of the restarted Rio de Janeiro state championship, Reuters reports.
The match marked the return of Brazil’s state leagues, most of which were halted in March as the novel coronavirus spread.
Most of the other state championships, which are usually played between January and April before the national leagues take place in the second half of the year, have not yet set a date for resuming.
The resumption in Brazil has caused controversy, with two top clubs, Botafogo and Fluminense, saying they will not turn up for scheduled games this weekend.
Another 1,238 people were reported to have died in Brazil on Thursday from Covid-19 taking the overall death count to 47,748. Only the United States has recorded more deaths.
More on New Zealand from the Guardian’s Charlotte Graham-McLay:
New Zealand Director-General of Health, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, had initially said the women had driven nearly 650 km between the cities of Auckland and Wellington to see their family without stopping; it later emerged that they had stopped to meet friends. Hundreds of their possible contacts were due to be tested.
On Thursday, a man arriving from Pakistan was also confirmed to have the virus; he is in managed quarantine.
The country’s borders are closed to everyone except New Zealanders, their immediate families, and essential workers. All those arriving must spend two weeks in quarantine, and take two Covid-19 tests. A compassionate exemption policy that allowed people in quarantine to leave early has now been revoked.
New Zealand has recorded fewer than 1,500 confirmed cases of the virus, and 22 deaths.
Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for the Guardian:
“Extensive” Covid-19 testing of thousands of people in New Zealand has not uncovered any new cases, health officials say. The testing was undertaken after a quarantine bungle when two women were allowed out of managed isolation without being tested – and later turned out to have the coronavirus.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield, the director-general of health, is giving a news conference in the capital, Wellington, during which he said the day of zero new cases of Covid-19 to report was “very reassuring.”
He said 6,273 tests for the virus were completed by laboratories yesterday as officials tried to track down any possible contacts of the two travelers returning from Britain who were mistakenly allowed out of quarantine without being tested.
The number of tests carried out on Thursday was “much higher than we have been doing in recent weeks,” Bloomfield said.
New Zealand had reported 24 days of no new cases of Covid-19, and had no active cases remaining in the country, when the two women who had arrived from Britain were permitted to leave quarantine on compassionate grounds to visit a dying parent. One later developed symptoms and both were diagnosed with the virus.
Tokyo lifted all remaining restrictions on businesses on Friday, although officials urged caution over a possible second wave of the coronavirus.
The measure, the final phase of a three-step easing of preventive measures in the Japanese capital, means live music venues, nightclubs and similar establishments where it is difficult to avoid the “three Cs” – closed spaces, crowded places and close contact – will be allowed to reopen with the blessing of local authorities. Many had remained open during the pandemic because Japan is legally unable to force businesses to shut down, even during a state of emergency. Restaurants will no longer be required to close at 10pm.
In addition, the central government will no longer ask people to refrain from crossing prefectural borders in the hope that resuming travel will boost the world’s third-biggest economy, which recently slipped into recession for the first time in four-and-a-half years.
Restrictions have been eased despite a recent rise in cases in Tokyo, with the capital recording more than 130 new infections so far this week. That included 48 on Monday alone, the highest daily number since 5 May. However, a significant number of those cases have been traced to host clubs and similar establishments in the Kabukicho entertainment district, where employees are being encouraged to undergo testing.
Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike, said the recent rise in cases reflected a more rigorous testing regime among people working in the night-time economy and did not indicate higher rates of community transmission.
Japan’s capital, with a population of 14 million, reopened schools, museums and other public spaces after the nationwide state of emergency was lifted late last month, followed by gyms and theatres from early June and, since last week June, pachinko parlours and karaoke venues, according to the Kyodo news agency.
Donald Trump has renewed his threat to cut ties with China, a day after his diplomats held high-level talks with Beijing and his top US trade negotiator said severing the trade relationship was not a viable option.
The conflicting stances emerged as Washington questioned China’s credibility on accurately reporting the new Covid-19 cluster in Beijing.
Trump wrote on social media that the US “certainly does maintain a policy option, under various conditions, of a complete decoupling from China. Thank you!”.
The threat came amid multiple points of friction between the world’s two largest economies, including trade, China’s moves to impose new security legislation on Hong Kong, and the coronavirus.
On Thursday the US questioned China’s credibility on reporting fresh coronavirus cases in Beijing and called for neutral observers to assess the extent of the outbreak. China has locked down parts of the capital as it seeks to prevent a second wave of Covid-19, reporting 158 cases since a fresh cluster was detected last week.
China has published the genome data for the coronavirus behind the latest Covid-19 outbreak in the capital city of Beijing, the website of state-backed National Microbiology Data Center showed on Friday.
State-backed Beijing News also reported that the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the genome sequencing data for the virus to the World Health Organization, which had previously sought access to the data.
In the US, the CEO of AMC theatre company has announced that it will resume operations in 450 US venues from 15 July, Variety reports.
But the company has also said it will not be requiring theatregoers to wear masks, although employees will be doing so. AMC CEO and president Adam Aron said the reason patrons will not need masks is because the company “did not want to be drawn into a political controversy”:
Nor will AMC perform temperature checks on customers, though it will monitor its employees’ temperatures and have them undergo screenings to check for signs of coronavirus. The situation will be different in states and cities that require residents to wear a mask when they’re in public, but Aron said that AMC was wary of wading into a public health issue that has become politicized.
‘We did not want to be drawn into a political controversy,’ said Aron. ‘We thought it might be counterproductive if we forced mask wearing on those people who believe strongly that it is not necessary. We think that the vast majority of AMC guests will be wearing masks. When I go to an AMC feature, I will certainly be wearing a mask and leading by example.’
AMC Theater CEO Adam Aron says their cinemas won't require masks upon reopening because they didn't "want to be drawn into a political controversy" https://t.co/zNjy9wzGMK
— Variety (@Variety) June 18, 2020