United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the U.N. is going to flood the internet and social media with facts and science to counter what he says is a “dangerous epidemic of misinformation” about the coronavirus pandemic. Guterres said the huge amount of falsehoods surrounding the illness is a “misinfo-demic,” full of bad health advice, lies, wild conspiracy theories and “snake oil solutions.” He says all of this is a “poison that is putting lives at risk.” He also spoke out against those who are “stigmatizing and vilifying people and groups” because of the pandemic, and he thanking “journalists and others fact-checking the mountain of misleading stories and social media posts.” “Together, let’s reject the lies and nonsense out there,” Guterres said. “With common cause for common sense and facts, we can defeat COVID-19 — and build a healthier, more equitable, just and resilient world,” Guterres said.  The top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told the Associated Press that when it comes to reopening the economy, the country “is not there yet.”  In the interview, Fauci said the nation still lacks what he describes as the critical testing for suspected cases and ability to track down everyone who came in contact with an infected patient.   “We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on. … I’ll guarantee you, once you start pulling back there will be infections. It’s how you deal with the infections that’s going count,” Fauci said.  President Donald Trump is eager to reopen shuttered stores and businesses and get locked-down people back to their jobs.  He originally envisioned this week to restart the economy. He now says he would like to get things rolling again by May 1. Fauci calls that target “a bit overly optimistic” at least for many parts of the country. He told the AP that once the outbreak peaks, he “would not be surprised” to see a second wave in the fall. But he said that is not inevitable.Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, April 13, 2020, in Washington.A new report from the U.S. government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says as many as 20% of coronavirus patients are doctors, nurses, and other health care providers. It says Italy and Spain are among the countries reporting similar numbers. The CDC reports 27 medical professionals have died from COVID-19.  Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says more than 60 coronavirus vaccines are in development around the world.  It says research groups, who normally prefer to work independently, are teaming up with others to help speed up the processes. China’s CanSino Biologics said Tuesday it started its second phase of testing a potential vaccine.  The U.S National Institutes of Health has teamed up with the health science firm Moderna to also develop a vaccine. The first test subject received a second dose Tuesday.  Fauci of the NIH told the Associated Press that there are no “red flags” so far in the testing and that it may be expanded to more subjects in June.  Fauci had predicted that a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready within 18 months. But says it is possible that it could happen sooner.  “Please let me say this caveat: That is assuming that it’s effective. See, that’s the big ‘if,’” Fauci stressed. “It’s got to be effective and it’s got to be safe.” If it’s a hot summer in New York City this year, it may be hard to find a place to cool off.  Reports say Mayor Bill de Blasio could order beaches to remain closed if the coronavirus outbreak remains dire.  De Blasio did not directly comment on the report Tuesday but said “we’re going to take this very slow and carefully to make sure we get it right. I’m always going to first focus on how do we guarantee the health and safety of New Yorkers and make sure we don’t take our foot off the gas too soon.” The Czech government says it will slowly begin to reopen stores starting next Monday, but all Czechs will still be required to wear face coverings.  Austria allowed thousands of shops to reopen Tuesday, but India has extended its nationwide lockdown through May 3. 
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday the European Union will create a strategic reserve of ventilators for countries “most in need” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.In remarks recorded from EU headquarters in Brussels, von der Leyen said Romania has agreed to host this reserve, and the first 150 ventilators paid for by the EU are in production and will be sent immediately to the nations in need.  Von der Leyen cited Italy and Spain as the European nations hardest hit by the pandemic and said EU support for them was “crucial.” She noted that Denmark has already pledged to send ventilators and a field hospital to Italy.Ventilators have proven crucial in the most severe cases of COVID-19 to help patients breathe.Von der Leyen said the EU is also procuring protective equipment such as masks to be shared as needed with member nations. 
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The small Italian village of Celleno thought it had escaped the coronavirus — nearly a month into Italy’s national lockdown. No confirmed cases of the potentially deadly virus had been recorded. The more than one thousand residents of the village on the outskirts of Rome breathed a collective sigh of relief.But in the past week all that has changed. First there were seven cases — stemming from a dinner friends had on the eve of the lockdown announced last month by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. And then came a big shock last week when a nursing home in the village for the elderly, Villa Noemi, recorded more than 30 cases among the frail residents. The virus has now spread. One of the nursing-home residents died midweek from coronavirus, shocking the closely-knit village. Celleno and its modest little farms dotted around the rugged northern Lazio hills has now been sealed off by alarmed regional authorities with police checkpoints mounted on the four roads leading in and out of the village to prevent anyone leaving or entering, except for emergency workers.“The situation is quite tough,” says Moira Emidi, a 36-year-old restaurant worker.Celleno’s mayor, Marco Bianchi, says the whole crisis feels “surreal” and that village is fearful.  The cases at the nursing home have “shaken the entire community.” And he added: “Currently, 35 of the residents are positive for the virus; another four are negative and they have been transferred to a nearby farmhouse where they are being looked after.” He says he finds comfort from how Celleno is pulling together, though, saying the village “has never been so united.” He adds: “The beautiful solidarity of many, many citizens comes as a great relief.”Celleno: the hilltop Lazio village on Rome’s outskirts thought it had escaped the coronavirus — nearly a month into Italy’s national lockdown, no confirmed cases of the potentially deadly virus had been recorded. (Dettmer/VOA)Death still lurksThe village of Celleno is unlikely to be the last in Italy to discover that the virus has been lurking in nursing homes, only belatedly to reveal itself. Italian authorities are now engaged in what they call a “mapping exercise” of the country’s residential homes for the elderly as fears mount that what is found could reverse Italy’s declining numbers of confirmed cases and deaths. Officials worry that an unseen surge in fatalities in nursing homes has been happening unnoticed with the old dying untested for the virus.As things are now, only patients who are hospitalized with severe symptoms are normally being tested for the virus. Two weeks ago, the mayor of the north Italian city of Bergamo, a coronavirus hotspot, issued a warning about nursing homes. “There are significant numbers of people who have died but whose death hasn’t been attributed to the coronavirus because they died at home or in a nursing home and so they weren’t swabbed,” Giorgio Gori, Bergamo’s mayor said.Worst may not be overNurses and relatives say they believe there has been an unnoticed spike in nursing home deaths, which is not showing up in the official coronavirus statistics. Emilio Tanzi, director of a 460-bed residence in the northern Italian town of Cremona, told Reuters that nursing homes are on the front lines of a crisis that predominantly affects the elderly but that, nonetheless, nursing homes have been overlooked and not adequately supported.He said there had been a significant and “anomalous” increase in deaths since early March in nursing homes. “We don’t know if there have been coronavirus deaths because the swabs haven’t been done. We’ve certainly seen high fevers and breathing difficulties. If we’d been in a position to know, we could have isolated these patients properly and avoided the epidemic,” Tanzi said.Researchers are now trying to get to the bottom of where nursing homes fit into the coronavirus crisis. According to incomplete data analyzed by researchers at the London School of Economics, about half of all coronavirus deaths in parts of Europe may be happening in care homes for the elderly. In this photo taken on April 1, 2020, 103-year-old Ada Zanusso, poses with a nurse at the old people’s home “Maria Grazia” in Lessona, northern Italy, after recovering from Covid-19 infection.Death trapsThe researchers are warning that a greater effort must be put into fighting the virus in nursing homes, otherwise deaths may keep climbing. Homes are ill-equipped to deal with the crisis, they say, because of chronic staffing shortages, lack of protective gear and the paucity of testing for the virus.“Care homes are places where physical distancing is almost impossible. It’s like a perfect storm: a susceptible population, not being able to implement the measures and the staff are not well supported and trained enough. Many of the staff are care assistants with very little medical knowledge,” said Adelina Comas-Herrera, one of LSE’s data researchers.A government survey in Italy suggests 45% of all deaths in the country from the virus may end up having originated in residential homes for the elderly. Tricky numbers    Italy reported a lower number of new coronavirus cases Monday — although daily fatalities rose — three days after the government decided to extend a lockdown. There were 3,153 new cases, the fewest documented since April 7, compared with 4,092 on Sunday, according to the country’s civil protection officials. Italy recorded 566 deaths linked to the virus Monday compared with 431 the day before. The total number of fatalities from the virus late Tuesday stood at 20,465.A woman wearing a protective mask walks her dog in Piazza Navona, as Italians remain under lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Rome, Italy, April 4, 2020.Italian officials are not the only ones in Europe wondering how a full accounting of nursing homes may alter the picture. Earlier this month, French officials abruptly revealed 1,416 nursing-home residents had succumbed to the virus since the pandemic emerged. French health officials have made clear the number of cases and fatalities they report every day does not include deaths in nursing and care homes.Cases have also been reported this month in more than a hundred care homes around Stockholm, Sweden’s capital. The authorities there have not given actual case figures, but the country’s public broadcaster SVT estimates more than 400 residents have been infected and around 50 have died.In Britain, official counts do not include virus-linked deaths outside hospitals, such as those in care homes. A former regional public health director, John Ashton, has publicly warned that the number of people officially recorded as dying from the virus could be double what is officially being announced. “We need to be able to see the data and crawl over it and really see what’s going on,” he told British broadcaster Sky News.Meanwhile, as national authorities try to understand the full impact of the epidemic in nursing homes, the villagers of Italy’s Celleno had some good news this week. Test results of residents in another nursing facility in the village have all come back negative.An earlier version of this story attributed one more death in Celleno to the coronavirus. It turned out to be not related to COVID-19.
 
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Russia is ready to discuss hypersonic missiles and other arms control issues with the United States as part of wider discussions about strategic stability, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.Cold War-era arms control agreements have been in jeopardy as Russia’s relations with the West have soured in recent years.In August 2019, the United States pulled out of a landmark strategic arms accord, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), citing Russian non-compliance.Both countries are developing hypersonic missiles to expand their defense capabilities, with Russian President Vladimir Putin overseeing a test in Crimea in early January.Such missiles, which fly several times the speed of sound and can be steered in flight, are harder to stop than other generations of weapons. Some experts fear their deployment could trigger a new nuclear arms race.Lavrov said he wanted to speak to U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo again after receiving a call from him a couple of days ago during which he said Pompeo touched on resuming talks on arms control and strategic stability.”We welcome such interest from our American partners because we have encouraged them to address these problems more actively for a long time,” Lavrov said.”We are open to talks about new promising developments, including hypersonic weapons in the context of, and I emphasize this especially, taking into account all aspects and factors that influence strategic stability, without exception.”Moscow has taken steps to mend ties with the West since the coronavirus outbreak.Russia has flown medical supplies and equipment to the United States and Italy to help them fight the epidemic. Lavrov said Moscow was prepared to fly over more supplies should Washington request them. 
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Spain is following Italy in talking about scaling back coronavirus restrictions as its numbers start to recede.  The nightmare is far from over in the country’s nursing homes, where the virus has claimed its largest percentage of victims.  In this report from Barcelona narrated by Jon Spier, Alfonso Beato tells us Spain is shocked by reports that elderly coronavirus patients have been found dead in their beds and some facilities have been abandoned.
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India, France and Nigeria are among several countries whose leaders are extending lockdowns aimed at stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus, as the number of confirmed cases worldwide topped 2 million. With the number of infections in his country at more than 10,300, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Tuesday a nationwide lockdown would run through May 3. French President Emmanuel Macron gave a late Monday televised address saying France’s lockdown would last through May 11, at which time authorities will begin to reopen schools. “On the French mainland and in France’s overseas territories, the system is under tension and the epidemic is not yet under control. We must therefore continue our efforts and continue to apply the rules. The more they are respected, the more lives will be saved,” he said. Nigeria also is adding two more weeks to lockdown orders in three states – Lagos, Abuja and Ogun – while Turkey’s president says a 48-hour weekend lockdown will be repeated this week. By far the most cases have been found in the United States, which accounts for about 600,000 known infections with the hardest-hit area being New York. There are about 106,000 cases in New York City and 195,000 cases in the entire state, more than Spain or Italy. But Governor Andrew Cuomo declared Monday the “worst is over,” but only if New Yorkers “continue to be smart going forward.”  California was one of the earliest states to tell people to stay home. Governor Gavin Newsom plans to announce Tuesday his administration’s plans for starting to resume normal life. Giuseppe Fonsino, listens to the speech of French President Emmanuel Macron on TV, in Ville d’Avray, near Paris, Monday, April 13, 2020. Macron said that the country’s coronavirus lockdown will be extended till May 11.Tuesday also brings small steps away from a total lockdown in Italy, which is allowing some shops to open again. The country has seen steadily improving numbers of critically ill patients after being a hotspot of the outbreak. The pandemic has battered the world economy, leading many governments to enact massive rescue packages. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been among those pushing for help for poorer nations that need to focus limited resources on health responses. The International Monetary Fund gave its approval Monday to a $500-million effort to help 25 countries by canceling six months of their debt payments. Some of those nations include Afghanistan, Congo, Haiti, Mali, Sierra Leone and Yemen. In the United States, part of the government’s plan to boost the flagging economy is sending cash payments to households to either help people cover their bills amid massive job losses, or to encourage people to spend money and boost business activity. 
 
Those payments are in the process of being distributed, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he expects some 80 million Americans will have the funds in their bank accounts by Wednesday. 
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Some European countries, including Denmark, Austria and the Czech Republic, are starting to lift the tight restrictions they imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The countries say their quick actions in locking down earlier than their neighbors give them the opportunity to relax their rules.With the number of confirmed cases and deaths decreasing, Spain on Monday allowed some nonessential workers to return to their jobs but is keeping much of its lockdown. Workers in industry and construction will be allowed to return after a two-week shutdown, which closed all sectors apart from health care and food. The tentative relaxation comes as the country, one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus, reported its lowest daily growth in confirmed infections in three weeks. Health officials say 517 new deaths were recorded on Monday, falling from 619 on Sunday.  Commuters wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus at Atocha train station in Madrid, Spain, April 13, 2020.Those who return to work are being told to maintain social distancing, said Maria Jose Sierra, deputy head of health emergencies. “If there is a person who shows the slightest symptom, they should contact the health system and remain in self-isolation,” she added. Other countries remain cautious, warning that any loosening of restrictions is still weeks away.  The different approaches reflect the struggle all countries are having — and not just in Europe — deciding between nation wealth and public health.  Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said his government must balance its response to the pandemic which “threatens to destroy lives and at the same time destroy the economic and social fabric of our country.” FILE – Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen addresses a press conference on the novel coronavirus COVID-19 at the State Department in Copenhagen, Denmark, April 6, 2020.As Denmark prepares to lift its lockdown, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen acknowledged that the decision is “a bit like walking the tightrope.” “If we stand still along the way, we could fall. And if we go too fast, it can go wrong. Therefore, we must take one cautious step at a time,” she said. The 46-year-old politician credits Denmark’s prompt lockdown for the gradual reopening of the country but says the number of infections must remain stable. The Danish government will reopen day care centers and elementary schools on Wednesday, but bars, restaurants, hair salons and shopping malls will remain shuttered until at least May 10. Bans on large gatherings will remain until August. There has been criticism from some Danish parents about the reopening of elementary schools and kindergartens. More than 35,000 have joined a Facebook group, saying their children will be serving as guinea pigs. Some are refusing to send their children to school. FILE – Austrian ministers arrive for a news conference about the coronavirus situation in Austria, in Vienna, Austria, April 6, 2020.Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz also credited his decision to impose early tough restrictions for “the opportunity to get out of this crisis faster.” He has warned Austrians to continue to minimize personal contact. On Tuesday, small shops and businesses in Austria will be allowed to reopen.   Department stores and shopping malls will join them in May. Restaurants and hotels can start working again in mid-May. “We will very closely monitor the number of new infections and immediately pull the emergency brake if need be,” Kurz said in a news conference.  Much of the drive to begin a cautious unlocking rests with rising alarm about the economic impact of the shutdowns. Governments are coming under mounting pressure from businesses to loosen up. In some countries, desperation is sparking official concerns about a social revolt. News of supermarket looting and customer refusal to pay for food at checkout counters have been reported in Italy’s south. Impatience with the lockdown is greater in Mezzogiorno, the underdeveloped southern part of Italy that has long trailed behind the country’s wealthy north. “In the south the concern is greater, because this crisis is combined with a fragility of the economic and social fabric. In the south, the wounds of the earlier crisis of 2008 to 2009 have not yet healed,” Giuseppe Provenzano, Italy’s minister for the south, warned recently. Police officers pull over cars at a road block on a main road leading out of the city, in Rome, April 13, 2020.The Italian government explored the possibility of loosening restrictions, but a full lockdown will remain in place at least until May 3 to stem the tide of new infections, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced Friday.  “If we gave up now, we would put all the positive results achieved so far at stake and restart with a new rise in the death toll,” he said.  On Friday, Italy’s Civil Protection Department announced that deaths rose by 570 within 24 hours to 18,849 — an increase of 3.1% and the lowest daily growth since the lockdown went into effect a month ago.  The numbers of people being treated in intensive care units has also fallen, from 4,068 people a week ago to 3,497.  The rising economic damage will also figure into a review of the lockdown by German officials Wednesday when Chancellor Angela Merkel will try to plot a path out of the shutdown with leaders of the country’s 16 partly sovereign states. Health department employees in protective clothes measure the body temperature of around 160 Romanian seasonal workers after landing at Hahn Airport in Hahn, Germany, April 13, 2020.Germany’s influential Academy of Sciences Leopoldina favors following Denmark’s route with a gradual reopening of schools — high schools first — where pupils can be trusted more to wear face masks.  Another research group, the German Institute for Economic Research, says the government should identify industries with the highest economic value — telecommunications and carmakers — and start reopening them. Regions with low infection rates could also start a gradual reopening, the institute has recommended in a report.  On Wednesday, the British government will review exit strategies from the lockdown. The COVID-19 death toll passed 10,000 Sunday, and British disease modelers and epidemiologists have warned that the country will not hit the peak of infections for another week at least.  Polling data being gathered by the government suggests Britons want a tight lockdown to continue, fearful that any easing could worsen the health crisis, officials say.  
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A total of 11,329 people have died in hospitals across the United Kingdom after testing positive for coronavirus, up by 717 in a day, the health ministry said on Monday. The number of confirmed cases has risen by 4,342 to a national tally of 88,621. The deaths numbers are as of 5 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Sunday, while the confirmed cases numbers are as of 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Monday. 
 
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Crowds swarm Stockholm’s waterfront, with some people sipping cocktails in the sun. In much of the world, this sort of gathering would be frowned upon or even banned.Not in Sweden.It doesn’t worry Anders Tegnell, the country’s chief epidemiologist and top strategist in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.The 63-year-old has become a household name in Sweden, appearing across the media and holding daily briefings outlining the progression of the outbreak with a precise, quiet demeanor.As countries across Europe have restricted the movement  of their citizens, Sweden stands out for what Tegnell calls a “low-scale” approach that “is much more sustainable” over a longer period.President Donald Trump has suggested that a rising number of COVID-19 deaths indicate Sweden is paying a heavy price for embracing the idea of herd immunity — that is, letting many individuals get sick to build up immunity in the population. He said: “Sweden did that — the herd. They called (it) the herd. Sweden is suffering very, very badly. It’s a way of doing it.”But Swedish Health Minister Lena Hallengren recently told The Associated Press: “We have never had a strategy for herd immunity.”So far, Sweden has banned gatherings larger than 50 people, closed high schools and universities, and urged those over 70 or otherwise at greater risk from the virus to self-isolate.The softer approach means that schools for younger children, restaurants and most businesses are still open, creating the impression that Swedes are living their lives as usual.Yet as Johan Klockar watches his son kick a ball around a field during a soccer practice in Stockholm, the 43-year-old financial analyst says it’s not like that. He and his wife work from home and avoid unnecessary outings. They socialize in a very small circle, and limit their son’s contacts to people he sees at school or soccer practice.”Society is functioning, but I think it’s quite limited,” Klockar said. “Other than this sort of situation — schools, soccer practice — we basically stay at home.”And while most businesses in Sweden are still operating, the economic cost of the pandemic is already being felt. Last week, 25,350 Swedes registered as unemployed, according to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce — a larger increase than during the 2008 financial crisis.In contrast, just across a narrow strip of sea, neighboring Denmark is already talking about reopening society. They imposed a much stricter lockdown four weeks ago, closing borders, schools and businesses. This week, the prime minister said by acting early, Denmark averted the tragedy that struck hard-hit nations like Italy and Spain, which together have seen at least 37,000 virus-related deaths, and will be ready after Easter for a slow return to normal life that starts with reopening preschools and primary schools.For weeks, the numbers of COVID-19 cases and fatalities were proportionally similar between Sweden and Denmark, but while the economic results of the strict isolation are being felt in Denmark, Sweden’s mortality rate has reached more than 88 dead per million, compared with around 47 dead per million in Denmark.Sweden, with a population of 10 million, has registered 899 deaths, while Denmark, with 5.8 million people, has 273 deaths. Worldwide, the virus has infected a reported 1.8 million people  and killed 114,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Still, due to limited testing, different ways of counting the dead and deliberate under-counting by some governments, experts believe those numbers vastly understate the pandemic’s true toll.After a sharp spike in deaths in Sweden, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven proposed an emergency law allowing the quick closure of public venues and transportation if needed. Lofven also warned citizens to prepare for possibly up to thousands of deaths.Nevertheless, Tegnell, the chief epidemiologist, insists that Sweden’s approach still seems to make sense, though he also acknowledges that the world is in uncharted territory with the virus.
He argues that while Sweden might have more infections in the short term, it will not face the risk of a huge infection spike that Denmark might face once its lockdown is lifted.”I think both Norway and Denmark are now very concerned about how you stop this complete lockdown in a way so you don’t cause this wave to come immediately when you start loosening up,” he said.He said authorities know that the physical distancing Swedes are engaging in works, because officials have recorded a sudden end to the flu season and to a winter vomiting illness.Lars Ostergaard, chief consultant and professor at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, agrees it is too soon to know which approach is best.”Every day a person is not being infected because of the strict lockdown, we are a day closer to a cure,” Ostergaard said, underlining the advantage of the Danish approach. But he acknowledges that the long-term consequences of a locked-down community could also be “substantial.””There is no right or wrong way,” Ostergaard said. “No one has walked this path before, and only the aftermath will show who made the best decision.”
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Spain is loosening some of its coronavirus restrictions Monday with workers in the manufacturing and construction sectors allowed to go back to work. With the threat of spreading the virus still present, companies are required to provide employees with protective equipment and make sure they maintain the recommended two meters of spacing from other workers. Spain has been one of the hardest-hit countries with more than 165,000 confirmed cases and 17,000 deaths.  Much of the country has been on lockdown for about a month. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Sunday the pandemic is a threat not only in terms of its impacts on health, but also economically and socially. “Therefore, the response requires combining measures that prevent contagion, that allow the recovery of our health system and that at the same time prevent paralysis and the collapse of our economy with the harmful effects it may have on employment in our country,” Sanchez said. The balance between how long to keep in place stay-at-home measures and when to send people back to work to restore economic function is one being weighed by governments all over the world. South Korea’s Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Monday officials were discussing potential new guidelines that would keep in place social distancing rules while allowing some “economic and social activity.” Couples enjoy the view while practicing social distancing during the global spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an observatory near “N Seoul Tower” located atop Mt. Namsan in Seoul, South Korea, April 7, 2020.South Korea has seen its number of daily new cases steadily fall, with the government reporting Monday 25 new cases. U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled his desire for economic activity to return to normal as soon as possible.  His administration has advised people to stay home if they can through the end of the month, while the governors of most of the country’s 50 states have gone further and ordered lockdowns with exceptions for activities such as exercise and grocery shopping. Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a CNN interview Sunday that he thinks some of those measures could be lifted as early as next month. “We are hoping that, at the end of the month, we could look around and say, OK, is there any element here that we can safely and cautiously start pulling back on? If so, do it. If not, then just continue to hunker down,” Fauci said. He added that a key piece will be the ability to quickly identify anyone who becomes infected, isolate them, and track down who they have been in contact with, and that any reopening efforts would depend on the specific situation in different parts of the country. As of early Monday, there were 1.85 million confirmed cases worldwide, with 114,000 deaths, according Johns Hopkins University statistics.  The United States accounted for more than 550,000 cases. 
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Master chocolatier Dominique Persoone stood forlorn on his huge workfloor, a faint smell of cocoa lingering amid the idle machinery — in a mere memory of better times.  Easter Sunday is normally the most important date on the chocolate makers’ calendar. But the coronavirus pandemic, with its lockdowns and social distancing, has struck a hard blow to the 5-billion-euro ($5.5-billion) industry that’s one of Belgium’s most emblematic. “It’s going to be a disaster,” Persoone told The Associated Press through a medical mask. He closed his shops as a precautionary measure weeks ago, and says “a lot” of Belgium’s hundreds of chocolate-makers, from multinationals to village outlets, will face financial ruin. For the coronavirus to hit is one thing, but to do it at Easter — when chocolate bunnies and eggs are seemingly everywhere — doubles the damage.  Yet amid the general gloom Belgians are allowing themselves some levity for the long Easter weekend. Some producers, like Persoone’s famed The Chocolate Line, offer Easter eggs or bunnies in medical masks, while the country’s top virologist has jokingly granted a lockdown pass to the “essential” furry workers traditionally supposed to bring kids their Easter eggs.  For young and old here, Easter Sunday usually means egg hunts in gardens and parks, sticky brown fingers, the satisfying crack of an amputated chocolate rabbit’s ear before it disappears into a rapt child’s mouth.  “People love their chocolates, the Easter eggs, the filled eggs, the little figures we make,” said chocolatier Marleen Van Volsem in her Praleen shop in Halle, south of Brussels. “This is really something very big for us.” The country has an annual per capita chocolate consumption of six kilograms (over 13 pounds), much of it scoffed during the peak Easter period.  “It is a really big season because if we don’t have this, then we won’t … be OK for the year,” Van Volsem said.  Persoone makes about 20% of his annual turnover in the single Easter week. This year, reduced to web sales and pick-ups out of his facility in western Belgium while his luxury shops in tourist cities Bruges and Antwerp are closed? “2% maybe, if we are lucky — not even.” Guy Gallet, chief of Belgium’s chocolate federation, expects earnings to be greatly reduced across the board this year. One of Belgium’s top chocolate producers Dominique Persoone stands in one of his production rooms with no workers, at his Chocolate Line warehouse in Bruges, Belgium, Friday, April 10, 2020.He said companies that sell mainly through supermarkets are doing relatively well but firms depending on sales in tourist locations, restaurants or airport shops “are badly hit.”  Persoone has a firm local base of customers but knows how tourists affect the books of so many chocolatiers.  “Of course, we won’t see Japanese people or Americans who come to Belgium for a holiday,” he said. “I am afraid if we do not get tourists anymore it will be a disaster, even in the future.” For most people, the coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and in some cases death. The immediate challenge is to keep the Easter spirit — and the chocolatiers’ craft — alive in these trying times.  A big part is humor and the use of medical masks made of white chocolate is an obvious one. Persoone puts them on eggs.  “It is laughing with a hard thing. And on the other hand, we still have to keep fun, no? It is important to laugh in life.” Genevieve Trepant of the Cocoatree chocolate shop in Lonzee, southeast of Brussels, couldn’t agree more. And like Persoone, who donated sanitary gel no longer needed in his factory to a local hospital, Trepant also thought of the needy.  That’s how the Lapinou Solidaire and its partner the Lapinou Confine — the Caring Bunny and the Quarantined Bunny, both adorned with a white mask — were born. Customers are encouraged to gift Trepant’s 12-euro ($13) bunnies to local medical staff to show their support. Part of the proceeds go to charity.  One of the country’s top coronavirus experts also knows the medical virtues of laughter. Professor Marc Van Ranst told Belgian children that their Easter treats weren’t at risk.  Tongue well in cheek, he told public broadcaster VRT that the government had deeply pondered the issue of delivery rabbits’ movements in these dangerous times. The rabbits bring — Santa-like — eggs to the gardens of children, roving all over Belgium at a time when it is forbidden for the public at large.  “The decision was unanimous: it is an essential profession. Even the police have been informed that they should not obstruct the Easter bunny in its work,” he said.  There was a proviso, though. “Rabbits will deliver to the homes of parents, not grandparents,” who are more at risk from COVID-19, Van Ranst said. 
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Italy is reporting its lowest number of new coronavirus deaths in three weeks and officials say hospitalization, including the number of patients admitted to intensive care, are also down. Italy has been Europe’s COVID-19 hot spot with more than 156,000 confirmed cases overall. But some Italian experts say the actual number may be much higher because of the high rate of fatalities in nursing homes where many of the patients were not tested before they died.   The Associated Press, which has kept its own count, reports the number of coronavirus deaths in U.S. nursing homes has jumped since the start of April to more than 3,300. But just like Italy, the true number may never be known because of patients dying before they could be tested.  Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House COVID task force believes testing in facilities for the elderly should be a priority.  “We need to really ensure that nursing homes have sentinel surveillance. And what do I mean by that? That we’re actively testing in nursing homes, both the residents and the workers, at all times,” Birx said. Back in Europe, France is also reporting a drop in coronavirus deaths and Spanish officials are letting construction and other industrial workers return to their jobs on  Monday after a two-week shutdown. But Spanish stores, except pharmacies and food stores, will continue to be closed and anyone who can work from home are still being told to do so.  Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu handed in his resignation Sunday after a two-day coronavirus-related curfew across the country took Turks by compete surprise.Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu delivers a speech in Ankara, Oct. 3, 2019.The government announced the curfew late Friday just two hours before it was to go into effect, sending thousands of Turks pouring into the streets and packing stores to stock up. Many left their houses without face masks.  “Responsibility for implementing the weekend curfew decision, which was aimed at preventing the epidemic, belongs entirely to me,” Soylu tweeted.  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to accept Soylu’s resignation. Turkey has ordered only scattered lockdowns since the coronavirus pandemic reached there. “Our most important sensibility is the continuation of the supply of basic needs and ensuring the uninterrupted continuation of production to support exports,” Erdogan said last week. “Turkey is a country which in all conditions and circumstances must maintain production and ensure that the wheels (of production) carry on turning.” The government has urged people to avoid too much mobility and carry out what Erdogan has called your “own state of emergency.” But he has said stronger measures would be taken if the outbreak in Turkey does not subside.  In New York City, there is still no decision on whether to keep public schools closed for the rest of the academic year.  The city has the nation’s largest public school system. Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have been squabbling over who must make the decision.  De Blasio says the decision is his and said schools will stay shut. Cuomo says he is the one to decide.  “We won’t open schools one minute sooner than they should be opened but we won’t open schools one minute later than they should be opened either,” the governor said Sunday. The city school system has been conducting virtual classrooms for the last month, but some school officials say some teachers and students are having a hard adjusting. The Sri Lankan government is ordering that anyone who died or suspected of dying of coronavirus be cremated “for the purpose of prevention of any potential biological threat.” The order is certain to upset the island’s minority Muslims who say under Islamic law, bodies must be buried, not burned.  But the head of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Rauff Hakeem, is asking Muslims to remember that these are not ordinary times on Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka or anywhere else. Israel’s former chief rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron has died of the coronavirus. He was 79. He served as chief rabbi for Sephardic Jews from 1993 until 2003.  Despite his involvement in a scandal surrounding fraudulent college degrees for police officers, he remained a popular and respected cleric,  “His essence was wisdom, tolerance and love for the people and the country,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.  Coronavirus has also claimed the life of another prominent 79 year old –British comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor.  He was best known as a member of the Goodies comedy team and the BBC radio panel game I’m Sorry, I Haven’t a Clue. 
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Greek forces are on heightened alert as reports have surfaced that Turkey is preparing to push through a fresh wave of migrants to Europe. Officials in Athens say, they fear that refugees infected with the coronavirus may be among the new wave of asylum seekers.Greek government officials contacted by VOA say the heightened alert follows intelligence reports showing Turkish authorities moving refugee groups from remote inland areas to Turkey’s western shores, where smugglers could secretly ferry then to Greek islands less than a few kilometers away.They say Greece’s coastguard, Air Force and Navy are increasing patrols along the Aegean waterway that divides Greece and Turkey… anticipating what they call an organized attempt by Ankara to push through thousands of asylum seekers to Europe.Whether that push will include migrants infected by the coronavirus remains unclear, officials told VOA.But on Sunday, leading Greek media reported that Turkey was in fact considering such a plan… hoping to exert fresh pressure on Europe to extract added financial aid for hosting nearly 4 million Syrian refugees and sparing the continent a fresh migration crisis.Relations between Athens and Ankara have been strained since Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced earlier this year that he would no longer block migrants and refugees from seeking entry to Europe.He rescinded that order late last month, moving tens of thousands of migrants who had amassed along the Greek-Turkish land border to secluded camps to cslow the spread of the coronavirus in his country.Turkey, though, has publicly vowed to open its border anew to migrants once it manages to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.That’s a threat officials in Athens are not underestimating. 
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Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu resigned late Sunday, taking responsibility for a poorly timed announcement of a weekend coronavirus curfew that prompted thousands of people to rush into the streets.Soylu is one of the most senior figures in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.  In a statement posted on his Twitter account, Soylu said: “Responsibility for implementing the weekend curfew decision, which was aimed at preventing the epidemic, belongs entirely to me.”The 48-hour lockdown of 31 cities was announced just two hours before it took effect on Friday night. Thousands of people ran out to stores to stock up on goods, many without wearing mandatory face masks.  Images of large, closely-bunched crowds sparked criticism of the government’s planning for the lockdowns.Soylu, who was appointed interior minister in August 2016, said his “countless experiences should not have led to such scenes.”Turkey reported 4,789 more virus cases for a total of 56,956, including 1,198 deaths, as of Sunday.Soylu, 50, joined Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party in 2012, having switched from the center-right Democrat Party. Since then, he has risen to be viewed by some as a potential successor to Erdogan and as a rival of the president’s son-in-law, Finance Minister Berat Albayrak.
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Julian Assange’s partner revealed Sunday that she had two children with him while he lived inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and she issued a plea for the WikiLeaks founder to be released from prison over fears for his health during the coronavirus pandemic.Assange has been imprisoned at London’s Belmarsh prison since police dragged out of the embassy a year ago. He is awaiting a May 18 hearing on his extradition to the United States, where he faces espionage charges over the activities of WikiLeaks.In a video uploaded onto YouTube, Stella Moris said she met Assange in 2011 when she helped out his legal team and that they got together four years later. Moris says their children are 3-year-old Gabriel and 1-year-old Max.Moris said in a statement last month in support of Assange’s bail application that she had gone “to great lengths to shelter our children from the climate that surrounds him.” Assange respected her wish for privacy, she wrote in the statement dated March 24 and seen by The Associated Press.“My close relationship with Julian has been the opposite of how he is viewed, of reserve, respect for each other and attempts to shield each other from some of the nightmares that have surrounded our lives together,” she said.Moris said she decided to make the statement a day after the British government put the country under lockdown, because “our lives are on the brink and I fear that Julian could die.” She worried about the coronavirus taking root in the prison and Assange’s “increased risk of exposure.”Jennifer Robinson, counsel to Assange and Wikileaks and a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, said Moris had “not taken this decision lightly, having fiercely protected her family’s privacy for many years.””She wanted to speak in support of Julian’s bail application given the grave risk to his health in prison during the COVID pandemic and the judge refused her anonymity.”The extradition hearing is fixed for May 18 after a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court rejected calls for an adjournment until September over what Assange’s legal team said were “insuperable” difficulties preparing his case because of the virus pandemic. 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was released from a London hospital Sunday after being treated in intensive care for the novel coronavirus. But the prime minister will not immediately return to work, according to a statement from his office, which added that he would continue his recovery at his country residence. Johnson was admitted to St. Thomas’ hospital in London one week ago, ten days after he tested positive for the coronavirus. “I can’t thank them enough. I owe them my life,” Johnson said of the National Health Service staff at the hospital Sunday — his first public comments since being transferred out of intensive care. As Johnson recovers, foreign secretary Dominic Raab has been filling in. In multiple messages on social media, 10 Downing Street has wished Britons a happy Easter Sunday, reminding them that churches remained closed and lockdowns are still in effect. Meanwhile, Britain faces grim projections that their country could be the worst affected in Europe by the coronavirus. The death toll in Britain climbed to 9,875 over the weekend, with over 900 deaths reported on Saturday.   
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Elderly people may have to be kept isolated until the end of the year to protect them from the coronavirus, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in comments published Sunday.”Without a vaccine, we have to limit as much as possible contact with the elderly,” she told the Germany daily Bild.”I know it’s difficult and that isolation is a burden, but it is a question of life or death, we have to remain disciplined and patient,” she added.”Children and young people will enjoy more freedom of movement earlier than elderly people and those with preexisting medical conditions,” she said.She said she hoped that a European laboratory would develop a vaccine towards the end of the year.To ensure that people can be quickly vaccinated, authorities are already in talks with producers on gearing up for world production, she added. 
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Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson was making “very good progress” Saturday in his recovery in a hospital from coronavirus, officials said, as the country’s death toll from the disease approached the grim milestone of 10,000.The 55-year-old leader was spending his second full day out of intensive care at London’s St. Thomas’ Hospital, where he has been able to take short walks between periods of rest, according to Downing Street.”The prime minister continues to make very good progress,” a No. 10 spokeswoman said.News of his improvement contrasted with the latest official statistics showing Britain recorded nearly 1,000 daily COVID-19 deaths for the second consecutive day, one of the worst rates globally.The health ministry announced another 917 coronavirus hospital patients had died in the latest 24-hour period, down from the toll on Friday but still the country’s second highest yet.An 11-year-old was among the victims, according to England’s National Health Service (NHS).As of Saturday evening, the total number of COVID-19 fatalities in the U.K. was 9,892, while the number of confirmed cases climbed to 79,874, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The actual number of cases was thought to be higher, because not everyone has been tested for the virus.FILE – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a news conference addressing the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, at Downing Street in London, March 12, 2020.”The prime minister continues to make good progress, but these stark figures highlight the gravity of this national emergency,” interior minister Priti Patel told reporters at a daily briefing.’Keep others safe’Despite the sobering statistics, Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director, said there was a “leveling off” in the number of new cases and “the first signs of a plateauing of people who unfortunately need hospitalization.”He credited a nationwide lockdown introduced on March 23 for halting the virus’ spread, but added the mortality rate would be “the very final thing” to decrease.”We are confident that if everybody follows the instructions … then that will begin to translate in the next weeks into a reduction in the daily deaths,” Powis said.”I’m afraid this year it has to be for all of us a stay-at-home Easter.”Queen Elizabeth II echoed that in what was believed to be her first pre-recorded Easter address, released by Buckingham Palace on Saturday evening.”By keeping apart we keep others safe,” the 93-year-old monarch said. “We know that coronavirus will not overcome us.”Her resolute comments came a week after a rare televised address to the nation in which she told people to unite to beat COVID-19.Spirits liftedJohnson is the most high-profile leader to suffer from coronavirus infection, and his hospitalization is unprecedented for a British prime minister during a national emergency in modern times.He was admitted Sunday for a persistent cough and high temperature 10 days after self-isolating with the virus. A day later he was transferred to the intensive care unit as his condition deteriorated.The Conservative leader left the unit Thursday evening in “extremely good spirits” and waving at staff “in gratitude,” his spokesman has said.The Mail on Sunday reported Johnson’s friends had revealed he came close to death while in intensive care and said he owed his life to the hospital’s medical team.It remains unclear when he might be discharged from hospital and how quickly he would return to work once out.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been standing in for Johnson.The prime minister’s spokesman stressed Friday that his recovery was “at an early stage” and he would act only “on the advice of his medical team.”The Sun reported that Johnson’s spirits had been lifted this week by his pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds, who sent him “love letters” and scans of their unborn child.Symonds, who has also suffered from coronavirus symptoms in recent weeks, and the British leader have reportedly not seen each other for nearly a month. Their baby is due this summer.Meanwhile, it is also uncertain when Britain might be able to lift the stringent social distancing regime.Implemented for an initial three weeks, the measures are set for a formal review next week and are likely to remain in place until at least the end of the month.
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Greek health officials have quarantined one of the country’s biggest Gypsy, or Roma, camps, scrambling to contain the spread of the coronavirus after multiple cases were detected there.  
     
The squalid settlement of 3,000 on the outskirts of the city of Larissa, 216 kilometers north of Athens, was locked down after at least 20 residents tested positive for the contagious virus late Thursday.   
     
Dozens more have since been recorded as authorities launched sweeping tests over the weekend, also keeping the military on standby to step in and enforce the quarantine in a bid to stop the virus from spreading to neighboring communities.   
     
“This incident has confirmed our greatest fear,” said Apostolos Kalogiannis, the mayor of Larissa, which, along with neighboring towns has until recently boasted a limited number of COVID-19 infections.  
     
All cases in the Roma settlement of Nea Smyrni have been linked to a 32-year-old man believed to have defied nationwide stay-home orders. He is also believed to have interacted with migrants at a nearby camp, forcing authorities to also quarantine that camp, 15 kilometers from Larissa, for two weeks.   
     
Health and security officials Friday scrambled to the Roma settlement to assess the situation, concerned the outbreak could imperil the government’s successful drive to bring the coronavirus to heel, after convincing the country’s population to heed draconian lockdown orders.   
   
The situation in this case “is different and difficult,” warned Sotiris Tsiodras, an infectious diseases expert and the head of the Greek medical response team. “The example of Larissa shows just how fragile the situation is,” he said, refusing to elaborate.  
   
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across Europe, Roma, traditionally crammed in decrepit homes and settlements with poor sewage, are largely being viewed as ticking time bombs, generating 20 new cases for every infected person, seven times as fast as the average rate of virus’s infection, according to experts.   
Government officials contacted by VOA in Athens Friday said the administration was set to use “any and every necessary measure” to avoid further spread of the virus across Larissa, a largely agrarian area.   Members of a Roma community gather on the street after several cases of the coronavirus were detected, in Larissa, Greece, April 10, 2020.The latest outbreak provides a revealing glimpse of how vulnerable and neglected Roma communities remain across Greece and Europe generally.   
     
Up to 12 million Roma live in Europe, but their communities from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia to Bulgaria, Romania, Kosovo, and Serbia, face decades of neglect.   
   
Stuck in slums and overcrowded neighborhoods, governments have long refused to formalize their settlements and provide basic services. Worse yet, critics add, authorities are now opting for aggressive tactics rather than aid and development plans to improve Roma communities.  
     
Abel Ravasz, the Slovakian government’s former emissary for the Roma communities, said the use of the military to enforce a lockdown order on affected communities would only further stigmatize the Roma.   
     
In the Bulgarian town of Sliven, police set up checkpoints around a Roma enclave earlier this week, restricting movements. Since then, police have moved to cordon off three other settlements, citing what they called traditional Roma defiance of rules and social distancing.   
     
“I would say that coercion is needed in certain situations because we are obliged to protect the rest of the population,” Interior Minister Mladen Marinov said.   
     
Nationalist European lawmakers, meanwhile, have called for sweeping shutdowns of Roma “ghettos,” labeling them breeding grounds for the coronavirus spread. The racial slurs have since then been picked up, posted and embellished by thousands of Greeks on social media accounts, sparking nationwide debate.   
     
To prevent further stigmatization, Greek officials, led by Tsiodras, lost no time in meeting with senior Roma leaders and community members at the Nea Smyrni settlement.   
     
We are all brothers in this country,” he told an open assembly of locals, after the talks on Friday. “But you have to follow the measures. You have to practice social distancing.”   
     
The crowd cheered but as the team left, groups of Roma were seen following the health chief and his team, asking why they had neglected them for so long. 
    
 Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Greece has documented 92 deaths and nearly 2,000 cases, a stark contrast to the more than 17,000 fatalities in neighboring Italy.   
     
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One inmate has been found dead after a riot and a blaze swept through a Russian prison under a coronavirus lockdown in eastern Siberia, authorities said on April 11.Independent news outlets reported that about 300 inmates were injured in the incident at Prison No. 15 in Angarsk, Irkutsk region.Trouble erupted on April 9 with authorities blaming prisoners, while human rights activists said inmates self-harmed en masse to protest systematic mistreatment.Activists from the nongovernmental group For Human Rights say Russian special forces were deployed at the penal colony late on April 9 in an attempt to quell the riot.A Federal Penitentiary Service spokesman in Irkutsk region said the rioting started when a prisoner attacked a guard.On April 10, a fire broke out at the penal colony — engulfing an area of about 30,000 square meters — as riot police cordoned off roads leading to the prison, turning away independent observers. The fire was extinguished by the early morning on April 11.The rights ombudsman for the Irkutsk region, Viktor Ignatenko, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the body of one inmate was found after the debris was cleared. The reports did not specify the cause of death.The regional penal service said the situation at the prison early on April 11 was “under control.” It accused prisoners of starting the fire.Videos posted on social media show buildings on fire as prisoners assert that they are being “murdered.”Human rights activists have not been allowed into the prison. Relatives and monitors are unable to contact the prison due to quarantine restrictions imposed during the coronavirus epidemic.The Irkutsk Region Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on the matter.There are about 1,300 prisoners at the facility.
 
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I knew I was in trouble a few days ago when I looked in the mirror and saw a sheepdog looking back.Giselle, who has been keeping my shaggy hair in reasonable shape for years, is now in forced retirement until April 19. She is not alone.VOA Geneva reporter Lisa Schlein poses for a selfie at home, where she is sheltering in place during the Coronavirus lockdown. (Photo: Lisa Schlein / VOA)In an effort to contain the deadly coronavirus, the Swiss Federal Government has ordered all bars, restaurants, sports facilities and cultural spaces nationwide to shut down. Only essential businesses, such as grocery stores and pharmacies remain open.Clearly nobody thought to inform the authorities that beauticians were one of life’s essentials. So, activities for the country’s 8.57 million inhabitants are severely limited until at least April 19.That is when the government will take stock of COVID-19 and decide if the situation has improved enough for it to ease up on the extreme measures that have turned this picture-perfect Alpine country into a ghostly landscape.Last week, for the sake of my mental well-being, I decided to break free of days of home-bound self-isolation and take a walk among the coronavirus-free trees. Also, my food supply was running low, so I figured it was time to stock up.I wasn’t fully prepared for the “Brave New World” I encountered. The streets were largely deserted and desolate. Even the construction boom, which has been making life in this city a misery, has pretty much come to a halt.The parking lot in my usually bustling neighborhood shopping mall was half empty. All the high-end and bargain-basement stores were closed. Only two supermarkets remained open, with long queues of people, separated by two meters, patiently waiting for their turn to enter.By the time my turn came, a pack of “body snatchers” had swept the shelves clean of most packaged goods. Bread, in particular, took a big hit. There wasn’t a crumb in sight. And, yes—there was no toilet paper.My misery found a lot of company. People were kind. They would throw me a quick smile of compassionate understanding as we hastily passed each other in the aisles.The motorway A2 is seen amid an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) near Wassen, Switzerland, April 10, 2020.Switzerland borders Italy, for weeks the country worst-hit by COVID-19. But a recent statistical analysis shows that Switzerland with more than 24,000 confirmed cases and more than 950 deaths, has the highest rate of COVID-19 infections in the world, based on the size of its population.Despite this sobering news and the lockdown in Italy, the Swiss border at Ticino remains open to allow some 68,000 Italians working in Switzerland and seen as vital to the economy to enter.Swiss authorities reacted quickly after the first case of coronavirus was confirmed on Feb. 25. Three days later, they took the unprecedented step of banning public gatherings of 1,000 or more, disappointing thousands of would-be merrymakers looking forward to the country’s biggest, most popular carnival in Basel.Other casualties included the world’s biggest art fair in Basel, major Swiss watch exhibitions, the zany Inventions Convention and the Geneva International Motor Show, which attracts half a million visitors every year.The ban has had an immediate adverse impact on the activities of the United Nations and other international organizations headquartered in Switzerland.FILE – A logo is pictured outside a building of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland.On March 3, the U.N. Human Rights Council canceled 200 side events to reduce the number of participants attending. And, nine days later, the council suspended its session, a week before its ending date because of the spread of coronavirus.At the time, we did not fully realize that this was the end of all “normal” activities at the United Nations. The U.N., which used to be a beehive of activity, is basically shuttered. The staff is at home teleworking. Only a few essential personnel are left to roam in this cavernous building.These radical changes, of course, have affected the way I report. I’ve had little problem adjusting to working from home as I’ve been doing that for years—long before “teleworking” became a fixture in peoples’ everyday lexicon.However, the difference between working at home now and working at home in pre-coronavirus days is stark and not comforting.In the past, my self-isolating homework was interspersed with trips to the U.N. to attend press conferences, special events, socializing and gossiping with colleagues. It was easy to move around in the city or travel to out-of-the way places in search of a story.But that was then, and this is now. Like everyone else, I am learning how to maneuver in a virtual world.In-person press conferences have been replaced with virtual ones, presenting a number of drawbacks. For example, a few days ago, I plugged myself into a World Health Organization virtual press conference on the coronavirus pandemic.In his opening remarks, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said his greatest concern was the impact this deadly virus could have if it gained a foothold in countries with weaker health systems.I immediately focused on sub-Saharan Africa, where cases of COVID-19 are rising. I quickly pressed *9 to ask a question. Unfortunately, with 277 journalists on line, many of whom also were queued up to ask a question, I didn’t stand a chance– no matter how furiously and frequently I pounded *9 on my keyboard.Paul Molinaro, Chief Operations Support and Logistics at WHO, Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical Lead of the Health Emergencies Programme, attend a news conferenceOne of my biggest regrets as a reporter in this atmosphere of caution and fear is my reduced ability to tell the stories of desperation that deserve to be heard but are being forgotten.Catastrophic events with dire consequences for millions of civilians caught in conflict are playing out in silence. So are the tragedies of children dying from hunger and disease, of women being raped as a tactic of war, of refugees fleeing persecution and violence.I have figured out that my best hope of shedding a bit of light on these dark corners of misery is by linking them with the COVID-19 pandemic, a singular threat dominating every aspect of our lives.
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Fifty crew members aboard France’s sole aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, have tested positive for the new coronavirus and parts of the ship have been put in lockdown, the armed forces ministry said on Friday.
 
A ministry statement said that three sailors had been evacuated by air to a military hospital in Toulon, southern France, home port of the carrier.
 
A team equipped to carry out tests for coronavirus infection boarded the vessel on Wednesday just after the armed forces ministry had reported signs of COVID-19 symptoms among 40 crew members.
 
“The results of 66 tests showed 50 cases of COVID-19 aboard the Charles de Gaulle. There is no deterioration of the sailors’ medical condition at this stage,” the ministry said, adding that the evacuation of three of those sailors occurred Thursday.
 
The aircraft carrier, which is equipped with its own intensive care facilities, has 1,760 personnel on board.
 
The nuclear-powered carrier, which had most recently been taking part in exercises with northern European navies in the Baltic Sea, is continuing its journey to Toulon, where it is due to dock in the coming days.
 
“While awaiting the early return of the aircraft carrier in Toulon … extra measures aimed at protecting the crew and containing the spread of the virus have been put in place,” the ministry added, adding that all crew members must now wear face masks.
 
Last week the captain of U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt was relieved of his command after the leak of a scathing letter he sent to superiors to call for stronger measures to curb a coronavirus outbreak on his vessel.  
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Finance ministers from the 19 eurozone countries Thursday agreed on a package worth more than half a trillion euros to help companies, workers and health care systems mitigate the economic consequences of the coronavirus outbreak.Mario Centeno, president of the Eurogroup of eurozone ministers, called the package of measures “totally unprecedented.””The package we approved today is of a size close to 4 percent of European GDP,” he said. “Plus, the automatic stabilizers that are quite powerful to protect European economies in case of crisis. This is totally unprecedented. We have never ever reacted so quickly to a crisis as this one.”The measures provide for hard-hit Italy and Spain to quickly gain access to the eurozone’s bailout fund for up to 240 billion euros, as long as the money is used for the needs of their health care systems.Centeno said at a video news conference that countries are expected to identify enough health costs to access the money.People line up to buy supplies from a supermarket as the lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus in Madrid, Spain, continues on April 9, 2020.The credit line is available only for the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak and expires immediately after that.The Eurogroup package also includes up to 200 billion euros in credit guarantees through the European Investment Bank to help companies stay afloat and 100 billion euros to offset lost wages for workers confined at home and others who are on reduced schedule.However, the deal did not include shared borrowing guaranteed by all member countries to pay for the cost of the coronavirus crisis, a key demand from Italy, Spain, France and six other countries, but rejected by Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.The finance ministers of Eurogroup left that issue open and up to national leaders of member countries as part of further negotiations on a possible fund to support the economic recovery in the longer term.
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One January lunchtime in a car parts company, a worker turned to a colleague and asked to borrow the salt.In that instant, they shared the coronavirus along with the saltshaker, scientists have since concluded.That their exchange was documented at all is the result of intense scrutiny, part of a rare success story in the global fight against the virus.The coworkers were early links in what was to be the first documented chain of multiple human-to-human transmissions outside Asia of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.They are based in Stockdorf, a German town of 4,000 near Munich in Bavaria, and they work at car parts supplier Webasto Group. The company was thrust under a global microscope after it disclosed that one of its employees, a Chinese woman, caught the virus and brought it to Webasto headquarters. There, it was passed to colleagues – including, scientists would learn, a person lunching in the canteen with whom the Chinese patient had no contact.The January 22 canteen scene was one of dozens of mundane incidents that scientists have logged in a medical manhunt to trace, test and isolate infected workers so that the regional government of Bavaria could stop the virus from spreading.That hunt has helped Germany win crucial time to build its COVID-19 defenses.Baker Tim Kortuem poses with lamb-shaped easter cakes with protective masks at his bakery Schuerener Backparadies as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in Dortmund, Germany, April 9, 2020.The time Germany bought may have saved lives, scientists say. Its first outbreak of locally transmitted COVID-19 began earlier than Italy’s, but Germany has had many fewer deaths. Italy’s first detected local transmission was on February 21. By then Germany had kicked off a health ministry information campaign and a government strategy to tackle the virus which would hinge on widespread testing. In Germany so far, more than 2,600 people have died of COVID-19. In Italy, with a smaller population, the total exceeds 18,200.”We learned that we must meticulously trace chains of infection in order to interrupt them,” Clemens Wendtner, the doctor who treated the Munich patients, told Reuters.Wendtner teamed up with some of Germany’s top scientists to tackle what became known as the “Munich cluster,” and they advised the Bavarian government on how to respond. Bavaria led the way with the lockdowns, which went nationwide on March 22.Scientists including England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty have credited Germany’s early, widespread testing with slowing the spread of the virus. “‘We all know Germany got ahead in terms of its ability to do testing for the virus and there’s a lot to learn from that,'” he said on TV earlier this week.Christian Drosten, the top virologist at Berlin’s Charite hospital, said Germany was helped by having a clear early cluster. “Because we had this Munich cohort right at the start … it became clear that with a big push we could inhibit this spreading further,” he said in a daily podcast for NDR radio on the coronavirus.Drosten, who declined to be interviewed for this story, was one of more than 40 scientists involved in scrutiny of the cluster. Their work was documented in preliminary form in a working paper at the end of last month. The paper, not yet peer-reviewed, was shared on the NDR site.Electronic diariesIt was on January 27, that Holger Engelmann, Webasto’s CEO, told the authorities that one of his employees had tested positive for the new coronavirus. The woman, who was based in Shanghai, had facilitated several days of workshops and attended meetings at Webasto’s HQ.Director Birgitta Falk, right, and conservator Luke Jonathan Koeppe remove the top of the Saint Corona shrine at the Cathedral Treasury in Aachen, Germany, April 9, 2020. There is no relationship between St. Corona and coronavirus.The woman’s parents, from Wuhan, had visited her before she traveled on January 19 to Stockdorf, the paper said. While in Germany, she felt unusual chest and back aches and was tired for her whole stay. But she put the symptoms down to jet lag.She became feverish on the return flight to China, tested positive after landing and was hospitalized. Her parents also later tested positive. She told her managers of the result and they emailed the CEO.In Germany, Engelmann said he immediately set up a crisis team that alerted the medical authorities and started trying to trace staff members who had been in contact with their Chinese colleague.The CEO himself was among them. “Just four or five days before I received the news, I had shaken hands with her,” he said.Now known as Germany’s “Case No. 0,” the Shanghai patient is a “long-standing, proven employee from project management” who Engelmann knows personally, he told Reuters. The company has not revealed her identity or that of others involved, saying anonymity has encouraged staff to cooperate in Germany’s effort to contain the virus.The task of finding who had contact with her was made easier by Webasto workers’ electronic calendars – for the most part, all the doctors needed was to look at staff appointments.”It was a stroke of luck,” said Wendtner, the doctor who treated the Munich patients. “We got all the information we needed from the staff to reconstruct the chains of infection.”For example, case No. 1 – the first person in Germany to be infected by the Chinese woman – sat next to her in a meeting in a small room on January 20, the scientists wrote.Where calendar data was incomplete, the scientists said, they were often able to use whole genome sequencing, which analyzes differences in the genetic code of the virus from different patients, to map its spread.By following all these links, they discovered that case No. 4 had been in contact several times with the Shanghai patient. Then case No. 4 sat back-to-back with a colleague in the canteen.When that colleague turned to borrow the salt, the scientists deduced, the virus passed between them. The colleague became case No. 5.A passenger walks at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, on April 9, 2020. About 95 percent of the flights were canceled because of the coronavirus.Webasto said on January 28 it was temporarily closing its Stockdorf site. Between January 27 and February 11, a total of 16 COVID-19 cases were identified in the Munich cluster. All but one were to develop symptoms.All those who tested positive were sent to hospital so they could be observed and doctors could learn from the disease.Bavaria closed down public life in mid-March. Germany has since closed schools, shops, restaurants, playgrounds and sports facilities, and many companies have shut to aid the cause.Hammer and danceThis is not to say Germany has defeated COVID-19.Its coronavirus death rate of 1.9 percent, based on data collated by Reuters, is the lowest among the countries most affected and compares with 12.6 percent in Italy. But experts say more deaths in Germany are inevitable.”The death rate will rise,” said Lothar Wieler, president of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.The difference between Germany and Italy is partly statistical: Germany’s rate seems so much lower because it has tested widely. Germany has carried out more than 1.3 million tests, according to the Robert Koch Institute. It is now carrying out up to 500,000 tests a week, Drosten said. Italy has conducted more than 807,000 tests since February 21, according to its Civil Protection Agency. With a few local exceptions, Italy only tests people taken to hospital with clear and severe symptoms.Germany’s government is using the weeks gained by the Munich experience to double the number of intensive care beds from about 28,000. The country already has Europe’s highest number of critical care beds per head of the population, according to a 2012 study.People keep distance due to the coronavirus at a market in Aachen, Germany, April 9, 2020.Even that may not be enough, however. An Interior Ministry paper sent to other government departments on March 22 included a worst-case scenario with more than 1 million deaths.Another scenario saw 12,000 deaths – with more testing after partial relaxation of restrictions. That scenario was dubbed “hammer and dance,” a term coined by blogger Tomas Pueyo. It refers to the ‘hammer’ of quick aggressive measures for some weeks, including heavy social distancing, followed by the ‘dance’ of calibrating such measures depending on the transmission rate.The German government paper argued that in the ‘hammer and dance’ scenario, the use of big data and location tracking is inevitable. Such monitoring is already proving controversial in Germany, where memories of the East German Stasi secret police and its informants are still fresh in the minds of many.A subsequent draft action plan compiled by the government proposes the rapid tracing of infection chains, mandatory mask-wearing in public and limits on gatherings to help enable a phased return to normal life after Germany’s lockdown. The government is backing the development of a smartphone app to help trace infections.Germany has said it will reevaluate the lockdown after the Easter holiday; for the car parts maker at the heart of its first outbreak, the immediate crisis is over. Webasto’s office has reopened.All 16 people who caught COVID-19 there have recovered. 
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