Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Deaths approach 15,000 globally
Coronavirus-related deaths worldwide are approaching 15,000, Johns Hopkins University reports, with the current toll at 14,706. Confirmed cases of Covid-15 reached 339,259 on Monday, with the number of recoveries currently amounting to just under a third of these, at 98,834. New York state accounts for 5% of confirmed global cases, and half of US cases.
Wuhan’s residents start to emerge from crisis
Residents living in the city of 11 million people at the heart of the virus outbreak have been allowed to leave their residential compounds in small groups for the first time in weeks. Public transport is resuming and people are being allowed to return to work if the are certified healthy. Non-residents, stranded there since stringent travel restrictions went into effect on 23 January, can also begin applying to leave the city. China reported 39 fresh virus cases from Sunday, all imported from overseas.
America falls silent as Trump defends virus response
By the end of Sunday, nearly one in three Americans were under orders to stay home as Ohio, Louisiana and Delaware became the latest states to enact broad restrictions and the shutdown of non-essential services began in New York. On Sunday, Donald Trump said he had released funds to activate the National Guard in New York, California and Washington state – three of the states hardest hit by Covid-19 – and ordered the set-up for “large medical stations” in those states. The president sought to defend against claims of a sluggish federal response to the crisis as the death toll in the US rose to 417, with more than 33,000 cases.
New Zealand prepares for lockdown
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the entire country should prepare for at least four weeks of self isolation from Wednesday. Schools and non-essential businesses and community services will shut down. Ardern said: “The worst-case scenario is simply intolerable, it would represent the greatest loss of New Zealanders’ lives in our history and I will not take that chance.”
Tokyo Olympics in doubt
Canada has said it will not send athletes to Tokyo Olympics in July, calling for a postponement as a matte of public health rather than athlete health. New Zealand said it would consider boycotting the Games, too, and Australia told its athletes to prepare for the games to be held in 2021 instead. It follows remarks by Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on Monday that postponement could be an option.
Weinstein infected
Harvey Weinstein has tested positive for coronavirus, according to the head of the New York corrections officers union. Weinstein, 68, has been placed in isolation at Wende correctional facility, said Michael Powers, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. The former movie producer, who is serving a prison sentence for sexual assault and rape, has tested positive for Covid-19.
Germany, and Merkel, isolate
Angela Merkel has gone into quarantine after a doctor who gave her a vaccine tested positive for coronavirus. The German chancellor was given the news on Sunday shortly after holding a news conference in which she announced measures to ban public meetings of more than two people. “The great aim is to gain time in the fight against the virus,” she said.