Coronavirus live news: Kim Jong-un reportedly appears in public - as it happened

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Reuters: Police in the Chilean capital Santiago detained more than 50 protesters on Friday, saying they had violated rules intended to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Protesters gathered on the Labor Day holiday in Santiago’s central square, many shouting and displaying signs that railed against abuse of workers and a sharp rise in layoffs in the South American nation.

Calls to protest on social media warned those who attended the rally to “use gloves, masks and alcohol gel,” but police said demonstrators had failed to adhere to a nationwide rule against gatherings of more than 50 people.

The Carabineros police force said on Twitter that one of the protesters detained had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and was meant to be in isolation for another week.

Police officers clad in plastic-screened helmets and olive uniforms herded protesters into police vehicles, while water cannons mounted on trucks nearby dispersed others.

Santiago is under partial quarantine, but scattered, small protests against the government of center-right President Sebastian Pinera have persisted in areas not under lockdown.

Hello, this is Helen Davidson taking over the live blog for the next little bit. Thanks to Kevin Rawlinson for his coverage over the last few hours.

Here is our latest catch-up on recent developments.

The top US health official Dr Anthony Fauci will be prevented from testifying to a congressional committee examining the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic next week, the White House has said.

The Trump administration claimed it would be “counterproductive” to have individuals involved in the response testify. The White House spokesman Judd Deere told Reuters:

While the Trump administration continues its whole-of-government response to Covid-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counter-productive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at congressional hearings.

We are committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time.

Trump said after the KCNA report that he will have something to say about Kim at the appropriate time.

There has been speculation about Kim’s health after he missed the birth anniversary celebrations of state founder Kim Il Sung on 15 April. The day is a major holiday in North Korea and Kim as leader usually pays a visit to the mausoleum where his grandfather lies in state.

A source familiar with US intelligence analyses and reporting told Reuters they could not immediately confirm the KCNA report. The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

According to Reuters, the news of Kim Jong-un’s appearance in public is now also being reported by North Korean sources.

The state news agency KCNA says he attended the completion of a fertiliser plant in a region north of the capital, Pyongyang, on Friday.

It is the first report of his public activity since 11 April. According to KCNA, Kim cut a ribbon at the ceremony and those in attendance “burst into thunderous cheers of ‘hurrah!’ for the Supreme Leader who is commanding the all-people general march for accomplishing the great cause of prosperity”.

Kim was accompanied by several senior North Korean officials, including his younger sister Kim Yo Jong, KCNA said.

Reuters said it could not independently verify the report.

The US president Donald Trump has offered an increasingly bleak picture for the US, telling a White House event:

Hopefully, we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number, nevertheless.

Trump, who initially dismissed the outbreak as a “hoax”, has oscillated between claiming that a death toll of between 100,000 and 200,000 people would represent a success and predicting it could be as light as 60,000 or 70,000.

According to the latest figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 62,406 people have died in the US since the outbreak began.

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made his first public appearance in nearly three weeks, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

His absence amid the pandemic had been the cause of speculation, though South Korean and US officials had stressed their belief he was not ill and could simply have been sheltering from the pandemic.

More than 70% of virus patients admitted to critical care are men, according to data from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC).

The research was based on a sample of 7,542 critically-ill patients confirmed as having Covid-19. It showed 5,389 of the patients were men compared to 2,149 women.

The report also found that men were more likely to die in critical care, with 51% dying in care compared to around 43% of women. In total about 49% of the 5,139 patients admitted to critical care who had recorded care outcomes had died, it found.

1 May 202016.56 EDT

Joan E Greve

The FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn was careful to note that remdesivir has not received FDA approval as a coronavirus treatment and has only been approved for emergency use on severely ill patients who have been hospitalised.

FDA approval requires a much more lengthy review process, while an emergency use authorisation is issued more quickly after the agency weighs the potential risks and potential benefits of a treatment option to help address an emergency situation.

Today’s action is an important step in our efforts to collaborate with innovators and researchers to provide sick patients timely access to new therapies where appropriate, while at the same time supporting research to further evaluate whether they are safe and effective.

There’s tremendous interest among all parties to identify and arm ourselves with medicines to combat COVID-19, and through our Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program, the FDA is working around-the-clock and using every tool at our disposal to speed these efforts.