Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday fired Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta over disagreements about how to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.Bolsonaro has argued that lockdowns and putting restrictions on business would harm the economy.Mandetta’s dismissal follows a statement by a Brazilian governor, São Paulo Governor João Dori, that he had increased security for his wife and moved his children after receiving threats he said are tied to his criticism of Bolsonaro’s handling of the  outbreak.Nelson Teich, a leading Brazilian cancer specialist who has a working relationship with Bolsonaro, replaces orthopedist Mandetta, who clashed with the president over issues such as social isolation.Teich, however, like Mandetta, supports social isolation as a means of containing the spread of the virus. But Bolsonaro has repeatedly said social isolation measures are bad for the economy.Bolsonaro played down Mandetta’s departure, reportedly saying it was a mutual decision.Mandetta’s dismissal ends weeks of bitterness between the two over the national response to the outbreak, which world experts believe is weeks away from peaking.During a news conference Thursday, Mandetta told his former coworkers they had put forth a good effort up until this point.On Thursday, Bolsanaro attempted to remind citizens he is sensitive to the crisis, saying life is priceless, but he went on to repeat his mantra that the economy and employment need to get back to some form of normal.Medical experts in Brazil and abroad have criticized Bolsonaro for not taking a serious approach to dealing with the nation’s coronavirus outbreak, which as of Thursday had more than 30,000 people infected and just shy of 2,000 dead.
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The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, combined with other problems in recent years, meant Latin America and the Caribbean would likely see “no growth” in from 2015 to 2025.Alejandro Werner, who heads the IMF’s Western Hemisphere department, said the global lender was racing to process 16 requests for emergency assistance, about half of which were from Caribbean nations devastated by a halt in tourism.Other countries, including Barbados and Honduras, had asked about traditional IMF programs or extensions of existing financing arrangements, he said.Likely to contract 5.2 percentIn its 2020 World Economic Outlook, the IMF this week forecast the economy of Latin America, where outbreaks have continued to rise, was likely to contract 5.2 percent.Werner told reporters in a videoconference briefing that countries in the region were facing the worst economic recession since they started producing national accounts statistics in the 1950s.Given the dramatic contraction forecast for this year, and the impact of policies aimed at containing the pandemic, a sharp recovery was expected in 2021, as long as the pandemic could be contained, he said.But that would not be sufficient to compensate for the current crisis, coupled with other events and problems in recent years.“It’s not only this shock; it’s the cumulative negative shock that the region will have gone through in the decade going from 2015 and 2025,” Werner said. “On average, our expectation is that it is highly likely that in the decade from 2015 to 2025 there will be no growth.”While individual countries would see some growth over the decade, the region as a whole would not, he added.Social unrest possibleWerner said the Fund would analyze a $70 billion debt restructuring proposal unveiled by Argentina on Thursday and was working with Argentine authorities to schedule an Article IV consultation.The Fund was processing Ecuador’s request for emergency aid and would send it to the executive board for approval as soon as possible, he said.Werner said the IMF was concerned about the possibility that the pandemic could spark social unrest in Latin America, which had already seen some protests last year.To guard against potential disruptions, Latin American countries should be attentive to societal fault lines in structuring their responses to the pandemic, he said. 
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Canada’s border restrictions with the United States will remain in place “for a significant time” as the two nations fight the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday. Washington and Ottawa agreed last month to clamp down on non-essential travel while allowing massive trade flows to continue across their long shared frontier. “There’s a recognition that as we move forward there will be special thought given to this relationship. But at the same time we know that there is a significant amount of time, still, before we can talk about loosening such restrictions,” Trudeau told a daily briefing. FILE – Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, speaks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 14, 2020.U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday told reporters the two nations were “doing well” and said, “It will be one of the early borders to be released.” The two nations’ economies are highly integrated, and allowing trade to continue avoided major problems for the auto sector as well as the transportation of food and medicines. Although Trudeau’s government has enjoyed good relations with the Trump administration over the last 18 months, tensions still remain. Last month, Ottawa slammed a U.S. proposal to deploy troops along the border to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus, prompting Washington to drop the plan. A total of 1,048 people in Canada had died from the coronavirus by 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), slightly less than 10% higher than the death toll a day ago, official data posted by the public health agency showed. The total number of those diagnosed with the coronavirus had climbed to 28,899. The respective figures at the same time on Wednesday were 954 deaths and 27,540 positive diagnoses. FILE – A woman walks past the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, March 24, 2020.Medical officials now expect the death toll to be between 1,200 and 1,620 by April 21, Theresa Tam, the chief public health officer, told a briefing. She repeated comments she made Wednesday about being cautiously optimistic the outbreak could be slowing down. The Canadian government has already announced more than C$110 billion in direct spending on measures to help people and businesses deal with the economic damage from the outbreak. Trudeau said Ottawa would expand loans to firms that paid between C$20,000 and C$1.5 million in total payroll in 2019, and also planned to help commercial property owners cut or even forgive rent to small businesses. The Pacific province of British Columbia said it would reduce property taxes by 25% and allow municipalities greater flexibility in taking on debt. 
 
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday the border between Canada and the United States isn’t opening any time soon for nonessential travel.Trudeau said it will still be a “significant amount of time” before Canada can loosen such a restriction.The U.S. and Canada agreed last month to limit border crossings to essential travel amid the pandemic but that agreement is due to expire April 19.U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday the U.S. and Canada are “doing well” amid the pandemic and said the U.S. Canada border will be among the first borders to open.”It will be one of the early borders to be released,” Trump said.Nearly 200,000 people cross that border everyday in normal times. Canada sends 75% of its exports to the U.S. and about 18% of American exports go to Canada.Truck drivers and Canadians who live in the U.S. for part of the year and are returning to Canada are among those who are exempted from the current travel ban.Canada has more than 29,826 confirmed cases, including 1,048 deaths. Almost half of the deaths are linked to nursing homes.The U.S. has more confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 than any country in the world.
 
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Elvis Francois, the orthopedic surgery resident who has gone viral with his top-notch live performances at hospitals, knew from adolescence he wanted to help heal the world through medicine.But through music? Not so much.Two years after becoming an unlikely singing sensation, the 34-year-old doctor with a golden voice is releasing his first-ever EP on Friday and all the proceeds will be donated to The Center of Disaster Philanthropy COVID-19 Response Fund.
“It’s been such a unique time in all of our lives. I’m just honored to be able to share a bit of music with people, especially during these trying times,” Francois said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. “What we do as surgeons, what we do as physicians goes a very long way, but music moves people in a way that medicine can’t.”
Francois has appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” CNN, “Good Morning America” and more programs after becoming popular for singing booming covers of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me,” but just weeks ago he got a call from two executives from the Nashville-based Big Machine Label Group, asking how they could help him spread his message of hope and joy through music.
Jake Basden and Allison Jones pulled their resources together, helping Francois get into a recording studio to record the four-song EP called “Music Is Medicine,” which is being independently released on the newly formed Doctor Elvis Records. Fellow resident William Robinson, who usually accompanies Francois on piano during his performances, joined in for the recording sessions of “Imagine,” “Lean on Me,” Andra Day’s “Rise Up” and Mike Yung’s “Alright.”
“It’s just been a group of people trying to use music to help people,” Francois said of all the help he’s received to make the EP. “I think that’s probably the most special thing about it.”
Francois also knew the EP could be a good way to help raise funds to fight the spreading coronavirus and honor the health care workers on the frontlines.
“We see health care providers who are getting impacted. We see our colleagues who are in the ICUs. We see our colleagues who are in the emergency department. We see how much need there is on the side of patients and on the side of providers. … I felt like the one thing we could do, if anything, was to use this momentum and use this energy to give,” he said.
Francois, who is in his last year of residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, began singing in high school and in church but he never took it seriously. Medicine, however, was always on his mind.
He grew up in Miami and New York and said trips to Haiti, where his family is from, really helped him find his life goal.
“I just always remember seeing long lines of people and how grateful they were to get Tylenol for free, or how grateful they were being able to just literally speak to a doctor and get their advice,” he recalled. “Since then, maybe when I was like 7 or 8, I’ve always looked at that as being something that I’d want to give the rest of my life to.”
But singing has helped him to connect to patients, and fans around the world, in a different way. He remembers going viral after posting a cover of “Imagine,” surprised that people outside of the U.S. saw and enjoyed the clip.
“My dad got a phone call from a relative in France who came across the video and that’s when I was like, ‘Oh wow!’ It hadn’t even been 24 hours,” he recalled. “I’ll get messages from nurses in Italy or messages from other residents and other health care providers or patients … A little bit of good can literally cross oceans and move people across the world.”
Once Francois finishes his residency, he’s heading to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, the teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, to complete a fellowship in spine surgery. Still, it feels surreal that he will have an album out on digital platforms next to releases from pop, rap and rock stars.
“Spotify, iTunes, Amazon? That’s just crazy. Literally if you asked me a month ago, I would probably laugh at you. Like, I’ve never even recorded a song,” Francois said.
“I’ve had to pinch myself, ‘Is this actually real?’ Seeing it all come together, it just feels like a dream,” he added. “I think the coolest thing about it is it’s a dream where we are all able to give our small parts to make the world better.”
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One Brazilian governor said he has increased security for his wife and relocated his children after receiving threats he says are tied to his criticism of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.São Paulo Governor João Doria told the Associated Press he is continuing to battle both the coronavirus in his state and Bolsonaro policies while other governors are backing away from criticizing the president out of concern that federal funding to help them counter the virus in their respective states could be diverted.Doria’s advocacy for strong restrictions is likely tied to São Paulo reporting 11,000 COVID-19 cases and almost 800 deaths, the highest in the country.Bolsanaro has argued that imposing lockdowns and placing restrictions on businesses would adversely affacet the economy.Meanwhile, The Guardian newspaper said Brazil’s Congress is demanding that Bolsonaro release the results of his own coronavirus test within 30 days.There is rampant speculation the president could be infected with the virus after 23 people who accompanied Bolsonaro to the United States last month tested positive for the virus, including the press secretary who accompanied Bolsonaro to a dinner with President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. 
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Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega appeared on Wednesday in a live broadcast on national television after being absent from public life for a month, raising questions about his health and whereabouts as the world reels from the novel coronavirus.Ortega, a 74-year-old former leftist guerrilla with chronic illnesses, gave no explanation for his 33-day absence but said that the Central American country is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak responsibly.”We have not stopped working, because if the people do not work, they die,” said Ortega. “We are a country of working people, people that will not die of hunger.”Ortega’s health has been a closely guarded secret and his absence from public life led to speculation about it.Over the years, Ortega has suffered two heart attacks and developed high cholesterol and other ailments, an official told Reuters last week. Since then, the president has been increasingly protective of his health, the official said.Now in his second stint as president after orchestrating a constitutional change to allow for reelections, Ortega said that Nicaragua has the lowest number of coronavirus infections, registering only nine cases and one fatality.”We have the capacity to attend to coronavirus patients,” Ortega said.Public health experts have questioned the accuracy of the official figures and urged the government to report how many people have been tested for the coronavirus.Nicaragua is one of the few countries that does not have social distancing measures, does not prohibit mass gatherings and has not canceled school and university classes as recommended by the World Health Organization. 
  
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Guatemala’s health minister said Tuesday that deportees from the United States were driving up the country’s COVID-19 caseload, adding that on one flight some 75% of the deportees tested positive for the virus.
Health Minister Hugo Monroy’s comments were dramatically out of line with what the government had previously said about infected deportees. Later, presidential spokesman Carlos Sandoval told reporters that Monroy was referring to a March flight on which “between 50% and 75% (of the passengers) during all their time in isolation and quarantine have come back positive.”  
Before Tuesday, Guatemala had only reported three positive infections among deportees flown back by the United States.  
Joaquín Samayoa, spokesman for the foreign affairs ministry, confirmed a fourth positive case for a migrant who arrived on a flight Monday. At least three of the migrants who arrived Monday were taken directly to a hospital for COVID-19 testing.  
President Alejandro Giammattei addressed the nation later, but made no mention of the deportees. It remained unclear why before Tuesday the government had only reported three deportees who tested positive and how many more would have been among the high percentage who tested positive aboard that March flight. Giammattei said Tuesday there were a total of 175 people who had tested positive in Guatemala and five who had died.  
“There are really flights where the deportees arrive … citizens who come with fever, and they get on the planes that way,” Monroy said. “We automatically evaluate them here and test them and many of them have come back positive.”
He added that the United States had practically become the Wuhan of the region, referring to the Chinese province where the pandemic began.
Guatemala again began receiving deportation flights from the United States Monday after a one-week pause prompted by three deportees testing positive for COVID-19.  
The Guatemalan government had asked the United States to not send more than 25 deportees per flight, to give them health exams before departure and to certify that they were not infected.
However, the flights resumed Monday with 76 migrants aboard the first and 106 on the second. Guatemala’s foreign ministry did not immediately clarify why the U.S. had not complied with its requirements, but the flights came on the same day that the U.S. State Department announced that aid would continue to Guatemala and the other Northern Triangle countries.
One of Monday’s flights also included 16 unaccompanied minors, according to the Guatemalan Immigration Institute.
Since January, the U.S. has deported nearly 12,000 Guatemalans, including more than 1,200 children.  
Citing the epidemic, the U.S. has started swiftly deporting unaccompanied minors rather than holding them in protective settings as specified by law. 
Also on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that he had informed Congress that the U.S. government would continue assistance for Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras in order to continue to lower illegal immigration and accomplish other policy objectives.
Pompeo said that since illegal immigration from those three countries peaked in May 2019, “encounters” with migrants from those countries had fallen by 76%. The U.S. government has effectively ended any possibility of seeking asylum at the southern border with emergency restrictions applied in the face of the epidemic.
Before the epidemic, the U.S. had also started sending Hondurans and Salvadorans to Guatemala and similarly had agreements in place to begin doing so in Honduras and El Salvador.
Deportations from the U.S. have continued despite the outbreak. The United States holds about 34,000 people in immigration detention, down from about 37,000 last month.  
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says 77 detainees have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Acting Deputy Homeland Security Director Ken Cuccinelli told reporters Tuesday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released nearly 700 people from immigration detention around the country because their age or health conditions made them vulnerable to the virus. He also said authorities were taking steps to ensure that people who may have been exposed in custody are kept separate from other detainees.  
“ICE is certainly committed to ensuring that comprehensive medical care is provided for all of their detainees from the moment they arrive in ICE custody through the entirety of their state,” Cuccinelli said.  
The administration on Friday issued a memo authorizing the use of visa sanctions to punish any nation that “denies or unreasonably delays” taking its citizens as they are deported from the U.S. amid tightened border enforcement imposed last month as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.Officials have declined to identify any countries that may have prompted the announcement.  
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. 
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Healthcare workers in Mexico City are demanding more protective gear as hospitals take in more patients infected with the coronavirus. Scores of doctors, nurses, and other medical workers rallied in the streets of the capital Monday, pleading for assistance from those in charge of the public healthcare system. Health officials recently said 329 doctors and nurses in the country’s public medical system have tested positive for COVID-19. The Associated Press spoke with a nurse, who complained she only had access to one mask each day while caring for many covid-19 patients. The federal government says it is getting more protective gear for hospitals, but the timetable for delivery is not clear. The latest outrage from Mexican health workers came on the same day President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced the private health sector will make available just over 3,000 hospital beds, about half of their inventory, to help offset the demand for covid-19 patient beds at public hospitals. Mexico says it has just over 5,000 cases of COVID-19 and 332 deaths are linked to the virus. 
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Guatemala again began receiving deportation flights from the United States this week after a one-week pause prompted by three deportees testing positive for COVID-19.The Guatemalan government had asked the United States to not send more than 25 deportees per flight, to give them health exams before departure and to certify that they were not infected.However, the flights resumed Monday with 76 migrants aboard the first and 106 on the second. Guatemala’s foreign ministry did not immediately clarify why the U.S. had not complied with its requirements, but the flights came on the same day that the U.S. State Department announced that aid would continue to Guatemala and the other Northern Triangle countries.At least three of the migrants who arrived Monday were taken directly to a hospital for COVID-19 testing. One of the flights also included 16 unaccompanied minors, according to the Guatemalan Immigration Institute. Citing the epidemic, the U.S. has started swiftly deporting unaccompanied minors rather than holding them in protective settings as specified by law.  Also on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that he had informed Congress that the U.S. government would continue assistance for Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras in order to continue to lower illegal immigration and accomplish other policy objectives.Pompeo said that since illegal immigration from those three countries peaked in May 2019, “encounters” with migrants from those countries had fallen by 76%. The U.S. government has effectively ended any possibility of seeking asylum at the southern border with emergency restrictions applied in the face of the epidemic.Before the epidemic, the U.S. had also started sending Hondurans and Salvadorans to Guatemala and similarly had agreements in place to begin doing so in Honduras and El Salvador. 
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Healthcare workers in Mexico City are demanding more protective gear as hospitals take in more patients infected with the coronavirus. Scores of doctors, nurses, and other medical workers rallied in the streets of the capital Monday, pleading for assistance from those in charge of the public healthcare system. Health officials recently said 329 doctors and nurses in the country’s public medical system have tested positive for COVID-19. The Associated Press spoke with a nurse, who complained she only had access to one mask each day while caring for many covid-19 patients. The federal government says it is getting more protective gear for hospitals, but the timetable for delivery is not clear. The latest outrage from Mexican health workers came on the same day President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced the private health sector will make available just over 3,000 hospital beds, about half of their inventory, to help offset the demand for covid-19 patient beds at public hospitals. Mexico says it has just over 5,000 cases of COVID-19 and 332 deaths are linked to the virus. 
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The coronavirus pandemic could send Latin American and Caribbean economies plunging nearly 5% this year, the World Bank predicts.The bank’s acting vice president for Latin America, Humberto Lopez, said the sharp drop in these economies may force Latin governments to partially take over some businesses to keep them afloat.“To support jobs and firms, governments may need to take ownership stakes in strategically important firms. To avert a financial crisis, they may need to recapitalize banks and absorb nonperforming assets,” Lopez said in a new World Bank report.He added that the bank will have to step in to help “limit the damage and lay the groundwork for recovery as fast as possible.”The report urges Latin governments to be “transparent and professional” in helping beleaguered businesses to avoid any signs of corruption and possible future punishment.The World Bank forecast of a 4.6% contraction in Latin economies is much more dire than an earlier U.N. prediction of a shrinkage of between 1.8 to 4%.The World Bank report said that although Latin economies may fall hard this year because of the pandemic, it predicts a 2.6% recovery by 2021.  Latin and Caribbean countries that rely on tourism and foreign dollars have been particularly hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic. 
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A Mexican journalist who disappeared over a week ago in the southern state of Guerrero was found dead close to where his family last saw him, the local prosecutor said Saturday.Forensic tests on human remains in the seaside resort of Acapulco were identified as belonging to Victor Fernando Alvarez, who disappeared on April 2.He is thus confirmed as the second journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year following Maria Elena Ferral, who was shot dead by two assailants on motorbikes when getting into her car in the eastern state of Veracruz last month.The Guerrero human rights commission called on authorities to investigate Alvarez’s murder and to bring those responsible to justice.Mexico is notoriously dangerous for the press with more than 100 reporters murdered since 2000.Last year, 10 journalists were murdered in Mexico, according to the Reporters Without Borders NGO.                 
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Brazil is the first South American country to record more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Saturday Brazil has nearly 20,000 confirmed cases of the virus with 1,074 deaths.  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been reluctant to impose quarantine restrictions to slow the spread of the disease.  He has said he is concerned about the economic impact of the restrictions.   The president has made fun of the coronavirus, calling it the “little flu.”  Almost all of Brazil’s governors have introduced quarantine measures.  Bolsonaro visited a hospital Friday without wearing a face mask. He was seen wiping his nose and shaking the hand of an elderly person, the BBC reported.  Medical experts are especially concerned about the impact the virus could have on Brazil’s poor and crowded neighborhoods and the country’s indigenous population.  A 15-year-old member of the Yanonami ethnic group died this week, the BBC reported.  He was the first indigenous person to die from the virus.  Bolsonaro’s popularity is falling.  Protests against him have been staged in several cities.     
 
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Teams of Mexico City government workers are fanning out across the metropolis delivering medical supplies, including thermometers, to people who notified the government they had symptoms associated with COVID-19.Officials said the outreach is aligned with the government’s recommendation that people with non-urgent symptoms isolate at home.The government said workers are also calling elderly people to see if they are all right and if they have a support network.Additionally, the government said it is making available food and monetary support for the neediest during the pandemic.So far, Mexico has confirmed more than 3,100 coronavirus case and 174 deaths.       
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Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Copacabana Palace hotel is closing Friday for the first time in nearly a century, Brazil’s latest economic casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.The hotel’s owner, Belmond, issued a statement, saying the temporary closure after 96 years in business, is due in part to efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19.Copacabana Palace hotel is adjacent to Copacabana Beach, which remains closed because of the virus outbreak.Rio state’s governor has imposed restrictions on gatherings and business operations, but hotels were not ordered to close.Authorities in Rio also extended orders requiring non-essential businesses to close, and residents to stay at home, except for essential trips, through April 30.Rio de Janeiro’s state health department said as of Thursday, it registered 2,216 confirmed cases of the virus and 122 deaths.        
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Mexico’s labor minister said the country has lost 346,748 jobs since mid-March because of its efforts to prevent and control the coronavirus outbreak.Labor Secretary Luisa Maria Alcalde said Wednesday that the greatest losses occurred in the tourism-dependent coastal enclave of Quintana Roo, which lost nearly 64,000 jobs.Popular resorts such as Cancun and Playa del Carmen have also taken an economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic.Alcade is urging businesses to stand up for their workers, but she stopped short of saying they should provide some financial relief.President Andrés Manuel López Obrador recently warned companies they would face public scorn if they refuse to provide a financial stopgap for laid-off workers.Meantime, he is promising to create 2 million jobs between May and December as part of an emergency plan response to the health care crisis.Reuters news agency said Mexico has recorded more than 3,100 coronavirus cases and 174 deaths. 
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Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno is calling for an investigation into the handling of the bodies of coronavirus victims, especially in Guayaquil, the epicenter of the country’s outbreak.Moreno is seeking the probe amid an avalanche of complaints from relatives of victims, who accuse local authorities of mishandling the bodies of their loved ones.The sight of bodies in the street has fueled the anguish of some residents.  The virus is claiming victims so quickly that the backlog has led to bodies being stored in homes of relatives or in refrigerated shipping containers.Ecuador has 242 confirmed deaths and just as many more are suspected of dying from the coronavirus.Moreno said in a tweet that each person deserves a proper burial and that no one will be buried without being identified.Meanwhile, Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos said he fired one official who asked for money in exchange for handing over the remains of a victim in a Guayaquil public hospital.So far, there are more than 4,400 cases of the coronavirus in Ecuador, one of the hightest totals in Latin America.
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Brazil’s health minister said on Wednesday that the country’s attempts to purchase thousands of ventilators from China to fight a growing coronavirus epidemic had fallen through and the government is now looking to Brazilian companies to build the devices.“Practically all our purchases of equipment in China are not being confirmed,” Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said at a news conference.An attempt to buy 15,000 ventilators in China did not go through and Brazil was making a new bid, he said, but the outcome is uncertain in the intense competition for medical supplies in the global pandemic.In one positive sign for Brazil’s supply crunch, a private company managed to buy 40 metric tons of protective masks from China, with the shipment arriving by cargo plane in Brasilia on Wednesday.Young women boxes with donations of food distributed by an NGO to people suffering during the COVID-19 outbreak at the Cidade de Deus (City of God) favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 7, 2020.The purchase of 6 million masks worth 160 million reais ($30 million) was undertaken by pharmaceutical and hospital equipment company Nutriex, based in Goiania, 220 kilometers east of Brasilia. The firm plans to donate part of the order.Health authorities began to sound the alarm this week over supply shortages as hospitals faced growing numbers of patients with COVID-19.Confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country soared to 15,927 on Wednesday, with the death toll rising by 133 in just 24 hours to 800, the ministry said.Rio de Janeiro reported the first six deaths in four of the city’s hillside slums, called favelas, alarming authorities who fear rapid contagion in crowded communities that have limited access to medical care and often lack running water for hygiene.Two of the deaths occurred in Rocinha, one the largest slums in South America where more than 100,000 people live.Mandetta reported the first case of coronavirus among the Yanomami people on the country’s largest reservation and said the government plans to build a field hospital for indigenous tribes that are vulnerable to contagion.“We are extremely concerned about the indigenous communities,” Mandetta said.Anthropologists and health experts warn that the epidemic can have a devastating impact on Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous people whose lifestyle in tribal villages rules out social distancing.President Jair Bolsonaro said in an address to the nation that the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was saving lives of coronavirus patients and should be used in the initial stages of COVID-19. Due to the absence of scientific evidence on its effectiveness and safety, Brazil’s health authorities limit its use to seriously ill patients who are in hospital.Mandetta said Brazil has hired local unlisted medical equipment maker Magnamed to make 6,000 ventilators in 90 days.Pulp and paper companies Suzano SA and Klabin SA, planemaker Embraer SA, information technology provider Positivo Tecnologia SA and automaker Fiat Chrysler have also offered to help build ventilators, he said. 
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Puerto Rico’s governor on Wednesday asked federal officials to ban all flights from U.S. cities with a high number of coronavirus cases to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. territory.
The petition by Gov. Wanda Vázquez to the Federal Aviation Administration came after officials accused some visitors of taking medicine to lower their fevers to avoid being placed in quarantine by National Guard troops screening people at the island’s main international airport.  
At least two passengers from New York who lowered their fever with medication are now hospitalized in the island with COVID-19, said National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Dahlen.
“They themselves admitted it,” he said, adding that the two people called health authorities when their condition worsened and that one of them was placed on a ventilator.
Vázquez asked to ban flights from New York, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Illinois.
Joel Pizá, interim executive director of Puerto Rico’s Ports Authority, said in a statement that those flights would be rescheduled when there’s a drop in cases in those states.
It’s unclear how many flights would be affected if the FAA agrees to the temporary ban. A Ports Authority spokesman did not immediately return a message for comment.
The FAA previously authorized a petition from the U.S. territory to allow the National Guard to screen passengers at Puerto Rico’s main international airport and agreed to reroute all commercial flights to that airport.
The National Guard has screened more than 52,000 people with the help of high-speed infrared cameras that set off an alarm if they detect a high temperature. More than 160 passengers were ordered to remain isolated for two weeks, although the government has no way of ensuring that they follow those instructions.
Puerto Ricans have been increasingly complaining about a high number of COVID-19 cases among tourists arriving from the U.S. who don’t adhere to the required two-week quarantine. One man was heavily criticized on Twitter after he posted that he was at the supermarket just days after arriving in Puerto Rico from New York.
Puerto Rico has reported at least 24 deaths and more than 600 confirmed cases, with only 6,000 people tested in a U.S. territory of 3.2 million. The territory’s government imposed a curfew on March 15 that has shuttered all non-essential businesses and ordered people to stay in their home unless they have to buy food, medication or go to the bank. Hundreds have been cited for violating the curfew.
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A California appeals court ordered the dismissal of a criminal case Tuesday against a Mexican megachurch leader on charges of child rape and human trafficking on procedural grounds.Naason Joaquin Garcia, the self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo, has been in custody since June following his arrest on accusations involving three girls and one woman between 2015 and 2018 in Los Angeles County. Additional allegations of the possession of child pornography in 2019 were later added. He has denied wrongdoing.  While being held without bail in Los Angeles, Garcia has remained the spiritual leader of La Luz del Mundo, which is Spanish for “The Light of the World.” The Guadalajara, Mexico-based evangelical Christian church was founded by his grandfather and claims 5 million followers worldwide.It was not clear when he would be released.  The attorney general’s office said it was reviewing the court’s ruling and did not answer additional questions.  Garcia’s attorney, Alan Jackson, said he and his client are “thrilled” by the decision.  “In their zeal to secure a conviction at any cost, the Attorney General has sought to strip Mr. Garcia of his freedom without due process by locking him up without bail on the basis of unsubstantiated accusations by unnamed accusers and by denying him his day in court,” Jackson said in a statement.La Luz del Mundo officials in a statement urged their followers to remain respectful and pray for authorities.  “(W)e are not to point fingers or accuse anyone, we must practice the Christian values that identify us, such as patience, prudence, respect and love of God,” they said.The appeals court ruling states that the Los Angeles County Superior Court must dismiss the 29 counts of felony charges that range from human trafficking and production of child pornography to forcible rape of a minor.The appeals court ruled that because Garcia’s preliminary hearing was not held in a timely manner and he did not waive his right to one, the complaint filed against him must be dismissed.  In June, Garcia was arraigned on 26 counts and waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing — a common move. The following month, he was arraigned on an amended complaint that included three additional charges of possession of child pornography. That time, he did not waive the time limits for a preliminary hearing.  His hearing was postponed several times — in some instances, because prosecutors had not turned over evidence to the defense — as he remained held without bail, prompting his attorneys to file an appeal.  The appeals court ruled that a preliminary hearing on an amended complaint for an in-custody defendant must be held within 10 days of the second arraignment — unless the defendant waives the 10-day time period or there is “good cause” for the delay.  The appeal only mentioned the dismissal of Garcia’s case and not those of his co-defendants, Susana Medina Oaxaca and Alondra Ocampo. A fourth defendant, Azalea Rangel Melendez, remains at large.  It was not immediately clear if the co-defendants’ cases would also be tossed.  In February, a Southern California woman filed a federal lawsuit against the church and Garcia. In it, she said Garcia, 50, and his father sexually abused her for 18 years starting when she was 12, manipulating Bible passages to convince her the mistreatment actually was a gift from God.The lawsuit will continue despite the dismissal, the woman’s lawyers said Tuesday in a statement.  The dismissal is the latest in a series of blunders on this high-profile case for the attorney general’s office.  Attorney General Xavier Becerra himself pleaded with additional victims to come forward — a move defense attorneys said could taint a jury pool.”It would be hard to believe that, based on the information that we’re collecting, that it’s only these four individuals,” Becerra said in June, repeatedly calling Garcia “sick” and “demented.”Prosecutors Amanda Plisner and Diana Callaghan also said multiple times in court that they expected to file additional charges based on more victims as the case continued to be investigated. But ultimately they only added three counts of possession of child pornography to the original complaint.Plisner and Callaghan were additionally sanctioned by a Superior Court judge in September, who said they had violated a court order in failing to give defense lawyers evidence. The judge later rescinded the sanctions and overturned $10,000 in fines she had levied. 
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Decked out in full firefighting gear, Elielson Silva stands 150 feet above the ground atop a retractable ladder poking up from a red fire truck.
His lofty perch is about as high as Rio de Janeiro’s colossal Maracana soccer stadium behind him. Silva faces a row of apartment buildings filled with Brazilians sheltering from the new coronavirus and watching from their windows and balconies.
He raises his silver trumpet to his lips and the notes soar toward his audience, helping extinguish the blues from being cooped up inside their homes.  
Silva plays tunes known across Brazil, but especially ones composed in and about Rio. Channeling an era that was more carefree, his songs tug at their heart strings: “Watercolor of Brazil,” “Samba of the Plane,” “Marvelous City” and “I Know I’m Going to Love You.”  
“Everyone is suffering the pandemic and I’m trying to the boost the morale of Rio’s population, so all this difficulty is lessened in these times we’re going through,” says Silva, an 18-year veteran of the city’s firefighting corps. “Bringing a bit of music, a bit of air, to these people has meant a lot to me as a musician and to the corps.”  
Raised to heights of up to 200 feet, he has performed all over the city. That includes tourist hot spots that these days are eerily empty — like Copacabana beach and the base of Sugarloaf Mountain — and working-class communities Rocinha and Jacarepagua. On Sunday, he played in three separate neighborhoods, always sporting his heavy, fire-resistant jacket and fire helmet despite temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  
He draws cheers and enthusiastic clapping.
“Hearing all that music restores our will to be in Rio, our sense of collectiveness,” Renata Versiani said from her windowsill, where she watched Silva play with her husband and young daughter. “Initiatives like this remind us of who we are as a community. It’s happiness to have a surprise like this.”
Versiani knows the emotional value of such gestures. She’s a psychologist whose family, by her telling, has “surrendered” to the calls to stay inside their home.  
Rio’s firefighters were the front line of the state government’s initial campaign to raise awareness about the need for people to isolate themselves and help contain the virus’ spread. They patrolled the city’s legendary beaches, playing a recording that urged beachgoers to head home, and spoke to people walking on the streets.  
Since Rio’s governor imposed restrictive measures, the firefighters have been seen waving people off the beaches.  
Brazil is in the midst of a pitched battle over the effectiveness of isolation, with President Jair Bolsonaro dismissing the virus’ severity and publicly taking aim at governors who impose shutdowns that he says could cripple the economy. His gatherings in public with supporters counter instructions from international health authorities and his own health ministry.
Brazilians seem to be more atuned to the experts. A survey by the polling firm Datafolha in the opening days of April found that 76% of Brazilians surveyed support social isolation.
Silva is striving to make social distancing seem a little less distant.  
In Rio’s Flamengo neighborhood, the sun glinted off his horn as he played his final numbers — Brazil’s national anthem, then “Hallelujah.” Onlookers surrounding him began applauding with their arms above their heads as his ladder telescoped downward.  
“Congratulations to these heroes,” Silva said, motioning to firefighters on the ground.  
Then he put his hands over his heart, and took a modest bow.
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The president of El Salvador warned on Monday that security forces had been ordered to enforce quarantine orders more rigorously to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, confining offenders to “containment centers” and confiscating their cars.   “The restrictions are the same, but we are going to be much tougher to enforce them,” President Nayib Bukele said in a televised address to the impoverished central American nation of around 6 million people.   In neighboring Honduras, the Security Ministry said it would temporarily ban the carrying of firearms for everyone except those transporting, food, cargo and other goods deemed essential during the health crisis.   Bukele said he had instructed his security and defense ministers take firmer action enforcing quarantine measures in the country, which has confirmed 78 cases of the virus, with four deaths so far.   In addition to having their cars confiscated, those who violate the quarantine orders will also be taken to “containment centers” for 30 days, Bukele said.  He added that national quarantine measures would be extended by 15 days, without specifying the precise date when they would end. Bukele also outlined a plan to track down people who are carriers of the virus and place them in observation.  
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They whiled away the week on a sex- and drug-fueled romp: dancing on white-sand beaches and frolicking on a paradisaical Caribbean island with prostitutes from Europe, some snapping selfies with famous reggaeton artists.But unbeknownst to several children of Venezuela’s ruling elite, the coronavirus was spreading among them.  For some of Venezuela’s high-flying “Bolichicos” — the privileged offspring of the socialist revolution — the party hasn’t stopped amid a widening pandemic in a country already gripped by crisis.To date, the virus has claimed only seven confirmed fatalities in Venezuela. But the potential is high for the pandemic to overwhelm an already crippled health system, where hospitals lack water, electricity and supplies.  It’s not clear how many people got sick last month on the Los Roques archipelago. But a raucous party that became a cluster of infections has raised concerns at the highest level of the government and drawn condemnation from Venezuelans locked down at home for weeks.”There was a party, on an island, and practically everyone at the party is testing positive,” embattled leader Nicolás Maduro said on state TV March 20.  Three days later, as embarrassing Instagram posts leaked out under the hashtag #CoronavirusParty, he downplayed it.  “Who is going to criticize a party? They didn’t know they were sick,” said Maduro, who was indicted by the U.S. last month on narcotics charges.Whether it’s crowded Miami beaches during spring break or clandestine raves in Spain and Italy in the pandemic’s early days, parties among the young and rich have been tough to tamp down.  In Latin America, the world’s most unequal region, jet-setting elites are blamed for importing the virus. In Mexico, for example, nearly 20 people were found to be infected after returning from a ski trip to Vail, Colorado. But it’s the poor — lacking medical care and struggling to hold down informal jobs — who bear the brunt.In Venezuela, engulfed by food and medicine shortages that have forced 5 million to flee, lavish celebrations are even more vexing. Such pockets of wealth are also harder to see amid incessant propaganda extolling the hardworking poor.  The festivities in Los Roques were organized by several government-connected businessmen, according to two people familiar with the gatherings who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.  While neither of the two people who spoke to The Associated Press were at the party, they have attended other gatherings with the same group and are in contact with several of those who went.Among the young revelers was Jesús Amoroso, son of Maduro’s top anti-corruption official, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for allegedly undermining Venezuela’s democracy.  The two people said Venezuelan prostitutes from Madrid and London were flown in just before air travel was closed to Spain, one of the nations hit hardest by the pandemic.  A smaller group crossed paths with two famous Puerto Rican reggaeton artists, Zion and Justin Quiles, who are seen with Amoroso on a sun-struck powerboat in photos and videos on social media.  A spokeswoman said Zion and Quiles were in the islands to shoot a video and didn’t attend any social event. Both tested negative for the virus.  In a nation plagued by misery, Los Roques is an oasis for the few who can afford it, including aides and relatives of top officials who travel by private plane to the band of tiny islands. Parties in the cluster of tiny islands have become more popular, with Miami, Madrid and New York out of reach after U.S. sanctions cut off access to foreign bank accounts and easy travel. Among them are Maduro’s sons, according to the two people, although none attended the latest gathering.  Usually, the parties feature psychedelic 2C-B drugs — known as “pink cocaine” for its high price and pink, powdery substance, the two people said.  One of them provided a video of the recent soiree, showing bikini-clad women dancing on March 11 at a beachfront home rented from an exiled Venezuelan banker.  According to a third person familiar with the situation, the next day a larger entourage set out in several boats to a popular spot that locals call “Corrupt Cay.” They didn’t know the virus was spreading.”Certainly one of the girls had the virus and nobody knew,” a local resident and partygoer said in an audio message leaked on social media. The person, whose authenticity was verified by one of the two people who used to attend the parties, recounted how he and his girlfriend had to be evacuated with high fevers. He said six people tested positive for the virus.  The party ended with a hangover: Everyone was tested, and some, embarrassed, closed their social media accounts.Others defended their actions.”Suck it gossipers,” Amoroso said on Instagram with a photo showing him in front of a luxury SUV, middle fingers raised.  Last week, police arrested several people who were in Los Roques, including the suspected madam for the upscale prostitutes, after breaking up a multiday party in an upscale Caracas home. Officers found a handgun, ecstasy pills and eight women belonging to a suspected prostitution ring, according the police report.  Of the 18 arrested for violating Maduro’s ban on large gatherings, two tested positive for the virus, according to police.  The scandal still rankles people in the Caracas slum of Petare. Miguel Rengifo, who drives a motorcycle-taxi, said he’s appalled at reports of the rich throwing parties while the country is on lockdown.”We’re struggling to eat, but they’re running free, drinking, chasing girls without a second thought about the rest of us,” the 38-year-old said. “Here, we are fighting just to get by.” 
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