South America at centre of pandemic, says WHO – as it happened
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Madrid and Barcelona to ease lockdown as Spain’s death toll stays under 100 again; 660,000 people forced to flee homes during crisis despite UN global ceasefire call
The transmission of coronavirus is believed to be “already widespread” in Yemen, the UN has said.
Aid agencies have said the country is “really on the brink right now” and that its health system “has in effect collapsed” according to a spokesman.
During a Geneva briefing, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said: “They are talking about having to turn people away because they do not have enough (medical) oxygen, they do not have enough personal protective equipment.”
“The actual incidence is almost certainly much higher,” Laerke said.
Authorities in Yemen have reported just 184 cases including 30 deaths from the virus to the World Health Organisation.
The UN has estimated that it will need to seek $2bn to maintain aid programmes in the country until the end of the year.
Amazon is to hire 50,000 temporary workers in India to meet a surge in online shopping in the country amid a national coronavirus lockdown.
Although online outlets faced a massive disruption to operations in the first days of lockdown, an easing of restrictions has allowed many to resume business as usual.
“We want to continue helping customers all over India get everything they need so they can continue to practice social distancing,” Amazon senior executive Akhil Saxena said in a statement on the company’s blog.
“[The move] will also keep as many people as possible working during this pandemic while providing a safe work environment for them.”
Amazon said the temporary workers will be recruited to its “fulfillment centres” and as part of its delivery network.
The announcement comes at a time when many companies in India have cut jobs as they try to tide over the financial impact of the health crisis.
The Afghan health minister asked the waring sides to don’t shelter inside medical centres as number of confirmed coronavirus cases has passed 9,000 and Kabul recorded its third worst day of the crisis straight.
Ferozuddin Feroz, the country’s health minister has asked the militant groups, Afghan government and international forces to don’t use medical centres as shelter.
“Our medical centres are servicing all sides, so I ask to don’t use medical centres as shelter” Feroz said on Friday.
War has been intensified across the country as the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, in response to an attack on a maternity hospital last week, ordered a resumption of a full offensive against the Taliban and other militant groups, ending a period of reduced military activity ahead of US-brokered peace talks that had been expected to start this year.
Feroz also ask the nation to avoid Eid gatherings. He warned that if people continue to break lockdown rules, the number of transmission will continue to surge across the country as despite governmen authorised lockdown in several provinces, streets are still crowded.
On Thursday the ministry said it has run out of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients. “The hospitals which had empty beds until 10 days ago and we were sending patients to, are paked, with no more beds. We should launch more hospital immediately” Wahid Majroh, deputy health minister said.
Meanwhile, number of confirmed cases has passed 9,000 as more than half of tests done in a 24-hour period come back positive across the country and Kabul recorded its third worst day of the crisis straight.
Health ministry tested 1,060 suspected patients of which 542 came back positive in last 24 hours, 12 deaths of Covid-19 have also been recorded, pushing the total number of infections to 9,216 and death toll to 205.
There have so far been 993 recoveries. Capital Kabul recorded 316 new cases out of 609 tests, four patients also died of Covid-19 in Kabul in last 24 hours.
Total number of confirmed cases in Afghanistan’s worst affected area stands at 3,083 with 29 deaths. Concerns are high in Afghanistan as Eid Al-Fitr is scheduled for end of this.
“Do stay at home during Eid and don’t make the happiness of Eid to grief” Majroh told the nation Thursday. “If you have doubt about the virus, just go and stay an hour in front a coronavirus hospital and look at the number of patients entering the hospital and deads bodies coming out of that”
In case you missed this earlier, here’s a video of Donald Trump telling reporters at a Michigan Ford plant on Thursday that he had worn a mask during part of a tour.
Trump says he wore mask at Michigan plant, but was avoiding cameras – video
The US president’s decision to appear without a protective mask during part of the visit drew the ire of the state attorney general, Dana Nessel, who told CNN: “The president is like a petulant child”. Nessel had previously written to the White House to insist it is the “law that everyone in the state” should wear a mask.
A photograph posted by NBC to social media appears to show the president wearing a face covering during his tour of the plant in Ypsilanti, which has been producing ventilators and PPE during the coronavirus outbreak, but he was not wearing a mask when he spoke to reporters.
Trump said: “I had one on before. I wore one in the back area. I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”
Cases of coronavirus in Singapore have surpassed 30,000 as the city-state continues to report hundreds of new infections in cramped migrant worker dormitories.
On Friday, the lowly-paid workers represented the vast majority of the 612 new cases. Total cases in Singapore, which has one of the highest daily infection rates in Asia, now stand at 30,426.
Pictures of Donald Trump wearing a face mask while on a visit in Michigan have emerged.
In a photo since published by both Sky News and NBC, the US president can be seen wearing a navy blue mask.
The images emerged after Trump was called a “petulant child” by a state attorney general for allegedly refusing to wear the covering during a tour of a plant belonging to the Ford car company.
President Trump wears a mask during his tour of the Ford Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where ventilators, masks and other medical supplies are being manufactured. https://t.co/UCqBVUEuBZ
The leader of New Zealand’s main opposition party has been ousted after opinion polls showed prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s soaring popularity over her handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Simon Bridges was replaced by Todd Muller in an emergency caucus meeting of his centre-right National Party following a week of disastrous poll results.
A general election is set to take place in the country in September.
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at a Covid-19 press conference in Wellington on Wednesday. Photograph: Getty Images
According to Thursday’s poll, just 5% of New Zealanders supported Bridges, 43, as the country’s leader, while support for his party simultaneously fell to the lowest in decades.
The same poll revealed Ardern, 39, had the support of 63% of the electorate.
Her popularity has risen substantially in recent weeks, with around 84% of people in New Zealand approving of the government’s handling of the crisis.
More on China’s plans to impose national security legislation in Hong Kong. The chief executive of the global financial hub, Carrie Lam, has said the legislation would not affect its judicial independence or that of its legal entities.
Reuters has reported that Lam said Beijing’s intention was to tackle illegal activities that the government believed had damaged national security.
The Hong Kong correspondent for the AFP news agency has posted a statement from Lam on Twitter.
#JUSTIN#CarrieLam said HK gov will cooperate with Beijing to promulgate the national security law in Hong Kong, and HK gov still has the responsibility to complete local legislation of Article 23 of Basic Law. pic.twitter.com/86vbWNWdSA
6,000 new cases in India in biggest one-day rise since outbreak started
India has reported 6,000 new cases of the coronavirus, the country’s biggest 24-hour rise since the pandemic began.
Figures on the new infections come as New Delhi eases the nationwide lockdown and some domestic flights resume.
On Friday, India reported over 118,000 confirmed cases – roughly a 5% increase from Thursday. A total of 3,853 people have died after contracting the virus.
Although the current lockdown, which began on March 25, has been extended to May 31 by prime minister Narendra Modi, rules have been relaxed in areas with lower case numbers.
State governments are also allowed to issue their own guidance on some matters.
