India eases virus restrictions even as cases soar

NEW DELHI (AP) — Many Indian states eased lockdown restrictions on Tuesday, allowing more businesses and public areas to reopen to reduce economic pain caused by the coronavirus, even as the country’s new daily infections remain the highest in the world and its confirmed cases near 3.7 million.

A day earlier, the government reported that the economy contracted by 23.9% in the April-June quarter, its worst performance in at least 24 years. Unemployment is soaring, with millions left jobless. Hoping to avoid more economic damage, India is gradually relaxing restrictions and has announced that urban metro trains can resume service next Monday.

India has been reporting the highest single-day caseload in the world for nearly three weeks. On Tuesday it recorded 69,921 new coronavirus infections. More than 65,000 people have died.

Experts say India, the world’s third most affected country, is fast becoming the new coronavirus epicenter and its case total is likely to soon pass Brazil and ultimately the United States.

Most of India’s cases are in western Maharashtra state and the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, but new surges are being recorded in the country’s vast hinterlands, overwhelming the poorly equipped healthcare system. In poorer states, the federal government has deployed special teams to monitor the situation.

“This was to be expected,” said Dr. Gagandeep Kang, an infectious diseases expert at the Christian Medical College at Vellore in southern India. “It was inevitable that the numbers would climb.”

Indian authorities have pointed to the recovery rate of virus patients in the country, now at more than 76%, as evidence of the success of its policy. India is also doing more tests — nearly 100,000 per day — but its testing rate at around 32,000 per million is still far lower than in the U.S.

Kang said insufficient data still hampers public health efforts.

“A case becomes a case because you detected an infection. It doesn’t actually tell you about the disease,” said Kang. “What we really need to be concerned about is the disease, whom is it affecting and how are we handling it.”

India’s initial strategy in controlling the virus was an abrupt, risky gamble: the lockdown of its entire population of 1.4 billion people at the cost of hollowing out its economy.

It worked for some time. While other large countries struggled with the pandemic, India’s cases remained low, although testing was limited.

The general sense of a looming health crisis in March and April was largely missing. By May and June, cases began to gradually increase, with megacity Mumbai and the capital, New Delhi, faring the worst.

The virus has now spread even to remote areas such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where members of a tribe tested positive last week.

Some government decisions to reopen the economy and society have met sharp criticism.

On Tuesday, India held competitive college exams despite demands from students that they be postponed because of the pandemic. Students and many opposition parties say they fear the exams will result in a surge in infections. The exams were earlier postponed twice.

Associated Press

Myanmar confirms first coronavirus cases

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar confirmed its first cases of of the deadly novel coronavirus late Monday after weeks of increasing scepticism over the under-developed southeast Asian nation's claims to be free of the disease.

The country of 54 million people had been the world's largest country by population not to report a single case of the pandemic that has confined more than 1.7 billion to their homes.

With only 214 people tested by late Monday, medical experts and rights groups have urged Myanmar to stand up and face the pending crisis.

Myanmar's health ministry late Monday confirmed a 36-year-old Myanmar man travelling back from the United States and a 26-year-old Myanmar man returning from Britain had both tested positive.

"We will investigate all the people who were in close contact with these two men," the statement said.

Late night panic buying

The announcement immediately sparked panic-buying at one 24-hour supermarket in commercial capital Yangon, where hours before life had largely continued as normal.

The Myanmar government had claimed the country's "lifestyle and diet" -- including the lack of physical contact and the use of cash, rather than credit cards -- offered protection to the nation.

The country shares a porous 2,100 kilometre border with China, where the virus was first found.

Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch last week branded the government's attitude as "irresponsible", saying it served only to give people a false sense of security.

Some public spaces were closed down in recent days, from schools and cinemas to karaoke bars and massage parlours.

The country also took the unprecedented step of cancelling the planned street celebrations and huge water fights that normally mark the country's New Year in April.

On Monday thousands of Myanmar migrant workers flooded back over the border from Thailand before the planned closure of land border points.

Foreigners have left the country in droves, heeding warnings from various embassies about being trapped in a nation with what Yangon-based analyst Richard Horsey described as "one of the weakest public health systems in the world".

"It also has almost no social safety net, so the poorest and most vulnerable will bear the brunt of the health and economic crisis," he told AFP.

One doctor in provincial town Pathein, even took to Facebook to plea for resources, saying his hospital had just seven beds in the isolation ward and only one ventilator and were "no way" ready for the virus.

"If we have more than seven patients, where shall we put them?" hospital head Dr. Than Min Htut wrote.

Humanitarian groups fear for Myanmar's hundreds of thousands of displaced people, confined to camps in conflict-ridden corners of the country.

The government, parliament and many other institutions are also largely led by elderly men - the demographic most vulnerable to COVID-19, Horsey warned.

Agence France-Presse

First French doctor dies as virus death toll rockets

PARIS, France — The first French doctor battling the coronavirus has died as the death toll in the country spiralled to 674 Sunday.

With the outbreak spreading to eight regions — and 112 more dying in a single day — authorities admitted their count does not include those who died at home and in old people's homes.

"We are looking at an epidemic that is widening and escalating," the head of the health service Jerome Salomon said.


With hospitals flooded with 7,240 victims, the military are having to transfer some from the worst-hit areas.

"The virus kills and it is continuing to kill," Salomon added.

The 67-year-old emergency room medic who died worked at Compiegne hospital, north of Paris, the town's mayor told AFP.

He was hailed as a hero by his family for coming back from holiday to treat the first major outbreak in the country.

Mayor Philippe Marini said that Madagascar-born Jean-Jacques Razafindranazy "came back to work voluntarily to treat people and knew he was taking a risk".

Calls for curfew
His wife, a family doctor, is now also sick with the virus and has been quarantined at home.

Dr Razafindranazy's death came as controversy raged over a shortage of protective gear for medical staff in some parts of France.

Despite Health Minister Olivier Veran saying more than 250 million masks had been ordered, some doctors and nurses have complained that they have had to do without.

The French government is also under pressure from doctors' unions to impose a total nationwide curfew.

The northeast city of Mulhouse, where French soldiers have already set up a military field hospital to help hospital staff overwhelmed by the number of cases, declared its own curfew from Sunday night from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am.

Some other cities, including Nice and Perpignan, have already imposed their own curfews.

With authorities expected to extend the lockdown beyond the end of March, doctors want it tightened to "at a minimum" stopping people going out to jog or exercise.

Parliament toughened fines for people who break the current confinement measures late Saturday. Repeat offenders now face six months in prison and a fine of 3,700 euros ($3,950).

And on Sunday it declared a health emergency in the country, granting greater powers to the government to fight the pandemic.

Shortage of masks
Dr Razafindranazy died on Saturday in a hospital in the  northern city of Lille, with his son paying an emotional tribute to him on Facebook.

"He was passionate about his work and chose not to retire. He has left a family behind him who will never forget him," he added.

The family also warned that "this illness is extremely serious and must not be taken lightly".

Marini said Dr Razafindranazy "would soon have been 68" and had treated some of the first cases in the Oise department, the first area in France to be badly hit by COVID-19.

He was infected in early March, the mayor added.

A quarter of the more than 7,200 people now in hospital with the virus are in intensive care.

Veran said many medical staff who contract the virus could in fact be getting infected outside of their work, while adding that protection for frontline staff was "absolutely indispensable".

But doctors and nurses were losing patience, with the Frederic Adnet, the head of an emergency department at Seine-Saint-Denis in the northern suburbs of Paris, saying supplies of protective clothing were clearly under strain.

"We know we are exposed," he told French television. "We know a number of us are going to contract it and there will be a price to pay... with protective gear cruelly lacking."

Agence France-Presse

France to use helicopters, drones to enforce virus restrictions

PARIS, France — France is calling up helicopters and drones to boost the government's attempts to keep people in their homes, police officials said Saturday.

"The helicopters will give us a larger vision and a panoramic view of the situation in real time to help guide the patrols on the ground," a national gendarmerie source said.

One helicopter was already in use on Saturday, hovering above major Paris parks to ensure that confinement rules were respected.


Later Saturday, a French navy helicopter-carrier was on the way to Toulon on the south coast of France to evacuate coronavirus patients from the Mediterranean island of Corsica to hospitals in nearby Marseille.

And on Saturday evening, a French navy helicopter-carrier was on the way to Toulon from where the vessel's helicopters will evacuate coronavirus patients from Corsica to Marseille.


Drones will also be used to help keep people confined, in particular to keep an eye on the banks of the Seine river.

However the head of the army health service (SSA) Marilyne Gygax-Genero told the Journal du Dimanche weekly: "We don't have unlimited means."

The French army has already been supporting the hard-pressed medical services in the northeast city of Mulhouse.

Inmates in several prisons meanwhile refused to return to their cells after exercise, the prison service said Saturday.

More than 9,000 infected

France has been in lockdown since midday on Tuesday, with excursions from the home limited to buying food, visiting the doctor, walking the dog or going for a solitary jog.

The measures came as the government mulled expanding the two-week home confinement imposed on all residents in a bid to brake the epidemic that has seen more than 14,000 infected with the virus in France, and 562 deaths.

No gatherings are allowed, and workers can only go to work if their employer does not provide an option for working from home.

People who venture outside need to print out and fill in a government form. They risk a 135-euro ($145) fine if they cannot show one.

Although a full curfew has not been imposed, the government has deployed 100,000 police to monitor people's movements and make sure people who are outside keep their distance.

250 million face masks

The French government's scientific council will on Monday make an announcement on the length and extent of the emergency measures, according to Health Minister Olivier Veran. 

To help contain the COVID-19 virus, 250 million protective face masks will become available 'progressively", the minister told a news conference.

There is currently a lack of masks, especially for health workers who are prone to catch and spread the disease.

Veran said the government was also seeking to multiply the coronavirus test kits available in order to increase testing once the restrictions on movement are lifted.

Businesses are suffering from the restrictions. Many have been told to close with only key businesses like supermarkets and pharmacies allowed to keep their doors open.

"Here we are still making the bread but we're not giving out the change," said one baker in the eastern Paris suburb of Montreuil.

Coins are laid out by denomination on the counter and customers take whatever is their due, in order not to spread the virus.

Ordinary citizens are also, increasingly, doing their bit to assuage the effects of the forced confinement.

A florist shop in the Sarthe region of western France is losing heavily as his stock of roses and tulips can't be preserved.

"Rather than throw them away we decided to send the flowers to hospitals throughout France to give a boost to the nursing staff," said the florist, Philippe Bigot. "It's our contribution".

Agence France-Presse

Twitter gets more serious about its coronavirus misinformation control

On Wednesday Twitter broadened its definition of “harmful” in relation to its removal of harmful misinformation about COVID-19 on its platform.

Now, its policy goes so far as to say that “content that increases the chance that someone contracts or transmits the virus” is harmful and must be removed, not simply misinformation about the disease itself.


Content that increases the chance that someone contracts or transmits the virus, including:
– Denial of expert guidance
– Encouragement to use fake or ineffective treatments, preventions, and diagnostic techniques
– Misleading content purporting to be from experts or authorities

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) March 18, 2020

Content now deemed as dangerous includes those posts that claim expert guidance—like that issued by nationally recognized health officials—is false, those that encourage people to use “fake or ineffective treatments, preventions, and diagnostic techniques,” and those consisting of misleading information published by self-proclaimed “experts.”

These changes are in effect as of Wednesday; however, considering how the virus and the media’s response to it evolves every day that the pandemic continues, it’s likely that this list will expand even more in the near future. IB

technology.inquirer.net

15 new COVID-19 cases bring total to 202

MANILA, Philippines — Fifteen more individuals were confirmed to have contracted the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), bringing the total to 202 as of noon Wednesday, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.

As of this writing, the DOH has not given details on the 15 new COVID-19 patients.


Meanwhile, three more patients were also reported to have recovered from the disease.

Among those who have recovered is a 24-year-old Filipino man from Makati (PH15) who has a travel history to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He was admitted to a private hospital last March 7 and was discharged last Sunday, March 15, after testing negative twice for the virus.

A 34-year-old Filipino man from Camarines Sur (PH26), one of two Filipinos aboard the MV Princess Diamond cruise ship who tested positive for COVID-19 last March 10, has also recovered from the disease.

Another 34-year-old Filipino male from Quezon City (PH13) with a travel history from Australia was discharged last Sunday after recovering and testing negative twice for COVID-19.

He was admitted on March 6 and tested positive of the virus on March 9.

The World Health Organization declared the disease as a global pandemic after it killed nearly 5,000 people and infected 110,000 others worldwide.

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the novel coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2.

The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.


Coronavirus is a family of viruses, which surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces.

Most people who have COVID-19 can recover as its symptoms are mild, such as fever and cough. But the illness can be more serious for others, possibly leading to pneumonia, especially the older adults and those with existing health problems.

newsinfo.inquirer.net

COVID-19 is a 'controllable pandemic': WHO

GENEVA, Switzerland — The new coronavirus outbreak "is a controllable pandemic" if countries step up measures to tackle it, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged Wednesday that the global outbreak of the new coronavirus could now be considered a pandemic—a disease actively spreading globally.


But he told diplomats in Geneva that describing the outbreak as a pandemic should not mean that countries give up the fight to stop it spreading further.

"This is a controllable pandemic," he said, according to a statement of his remarks.

"We are deeply concerned that some countries are not approaching this threat with the level of political commitment needed to control it.

"The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous," he stressed.

More than 4,500 people have died, according to an AFP tally, while the WHO said some 125,000 cases had been reported from 118 countries and territories.

"To save lives we must reduce transmission," Tedros insisted.

"That means finding and isolating as many cases as possible and quarantining their closest contacts," he said, urging states to test every suspected case of COVID-19 in a bid to slow transmission.

"Even if you cannot stop transmission, you can slow it down and protect health facilities, old age homes and other vital areas—but only if you test all suspected cases."

The majority of cases have been in China, where the outbreak emerged in December, but major hotspots have also emerged in South Korea, Iran and Italy.

Together, those four countries account for more than 90 percent of all reported cases, according to the WHO.

'Robust surveillance' 

The pandemic has disrupted cultural and sporting events around the world as authorities try to prevent large gatherings.

Tedros said countries needed to find the right balance between protecting health and preventing social and economic disruption.

However, "containment" needed to remain the central pillar in any plan to tackle the spread, he said.

"You can't fight a virus if you don’t know where it is. That means robust surveillance to find, isolate, test and treat every case, to break the chains of transmission."

Tedros urged unaffected countries to prepare their health facilities, and pressed all states to innovate and share any new ways to prevent infections and minimise the impact of the outbreak.

More than $440 million (390 million euros) has been pledged towards the WHO's strategic preparedness and response plan, he added.

Agence France-Presse

US leads global fight against coronavirus economic threat

WASHINGTON, United States — The US Federal Reserve on Tuesday led the global charge in response to the growing economic risk posed by the new coronavirus, announcing an emergency interest rate cut after the UN health agency said the world has entered "uncharted territory."

But the Fed's stimulus, which came hours after the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers pledged to take action using "all appropriate policy tools," wasn't enough to prevent Wall Street stocks from tumbling as the virus continued its global spread.


The death toll in the United States rose to nine, many linked to a nursing home in the Seattle suburbs, while the overall number of infections shot past 100 including cases on both coasts and the Midwest.

More than 90,000 people have been infected and 3,100 killed since the first cases were identified in China's Hubei province late last year.

The vast majority of cases have been in China, but South Korea, Italy and Iran have also emerged as hotspots. The virus has also spread into Latin America and Africa, raising fears it could become established in conflict-hit countries with weak health infrastructure.

The World Bank unveiled a $12 billion aid package on Tuesday to help the world's poorest nations with medical equipment or health services.

Global bourses have seen dramatic swings over the past week as concerns mount that the outbreak could threaten global growth and drive some countries in to a recession.

In a unanimous decision, the Fed's policy-setting committee slashed its key interest rate by a half point to a range of 1.0-1.25 percent -- the first between-meeting cut since the height of the global 2008 financial crisis.


"My colleagues and I took this action to help the US economy keep strong in the face of new risks to the economic outlook," Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters.

But the immediate impact seemed the opposite of what was intended: Investors fled to safe assets, sending the 10-year Treasury yield to its lowest ever return while stocks lost most of the ground recovered Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished nearly three percent lower, though European stocks and oil markets were higher but off the day's best levels.

Uncharted territory

Financial jitters followed a dire warning from the World Health Organization's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said on Monday: "We are in uncharted territory."

He added that "we have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures."

Countries across the world have imposed extraordinary measures in a bid to contain the virus, with millions of people across large swathes of China forced into quarantine.

Italy has also locked in entire regions, while many nations have imposed travel restrictions on visitors from badly hit countries.

Sports events, concerts and large gatherings have been canceled, including Google's annual developer conference, one of its most important events, which was to be held in May.

The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday it was pushing ahead with plans for the Tokyo Olympics kicking off in July.

European football's governing body likewise said the virus would not derail its championship in June and July.

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates announced six more coronavirus cases linked to an abandoned cycling event, saying that two Russians, two Italians, one German and a Colombian had been infected.

'A war'

South Korea remains the biggest infection cluster outside China, confirming 851 new cases on Tuesday, its biggest daily increase.

It has clocked a total of more than 5,100 cases, with 28 deaths. "The entire country has entered a war with the infectious disease," South Korean President Moon Jae-in said.

By contrast, China reported 125 new cases Tuesday — its lowest daily increase in six weeks — with all but 11 infections in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital.

The nationwide death toll rose to 2,943 with 31 more deaths, and about 80,000 total cases.

Argentina announced its first two cases Tuesday while Spain announced its first death, a man who died last month in the eastern region of Valencia.

Elsewhere in Europe, attention turned to containment, including Switzerland where all soldiers were confined to their bases after a case of the virus was discovered in their ranks.

France, which has more than 200 cases and four deaths, closed dozens of schools on Tuesday in several virus-stricken regions.

President Emmanuel Macron said authorities would requisition all face mask stocks and production in the coming months in response to the outbreak, after 2,000 masks were stolen from a hospital.

The WHO also issued a warning Tuesday that supplies of protective gear to fight the virus were "rapidly depleting" around the world.

It also said a lack of these supplies was complicating efforts at controlling the outbreak in Iran, where the virus was now "well-established." The Middle Eastern country has had 77 deaths, the second highest after China.

Agence France-Presse

US reports fourth coronavirus infection of unknown origin

LOS ANGELES, United States — US health officials reported Friday a fourth case of novel coronavirus of unknown origin, indicating the disease was spreading in the country.

The latest case is a boy under 18 in Washington State who tested "presumptive positive," local authorities said without releasing further details about the patient.

He is currently in home isolation in Snohomish County. The high school he attends will be shut until March 3 while it is deep cleaned, the Washington State Department of Health said.

In neighboring Oregon, authorities said Friday an adult who had had contact with people at an elementary school had been hospitalized and was also considered "presumptive positive."

A positive test is treated as "presumptive" until the results have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


"We've been expecting this and we're prepared for it," Oregon's Health Authority director Patrick Allen told reporters.

The school will be closed until March 4 as it undergoes a deep clean, officials said, adding they would talk to employees and parents.

Earlier Friday, Californian health authorities said an older woman was confirmed infected with unknown origin -- the second such case in the northern part of the state.

"This new case indicates that there is evidence of community transmission but the extent is still not clear," said Sara Cody, director of public health for Santa Clara County.

"What we know now is that the virus is here, present at some level, but we still don't know to what degree," she added.

The two cases in California are close to Silicon Valley, where tech giants like Apple, Google and Tesla are based.

The latest infections have heightened fears of an outbreak across the country.

President Donald Trump, however, downplayed the risk in the US at a campaign rally in South Carolina, accusing Democrats and the press of stirring up hysteria.

"We are preparing for the worst," he said. "My administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to prevent the spread of this illness in the United States."

He called the coronavirus the Democrats' "new hoax."

"The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. They're politicizing it," he said. "They don't have any clue. They can't even count their votes in Iowa."

According to the Centers for Disease Control more than 60 people are infected with the disease in the United States, the majority of them in California.

The state's governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday 33 people had tested positive for the virus, and five of them had left California.

Worldwide more than 85,000 people have been infected and over 2,900 have died.

The escalating number of cases has sent stock markets tumbling and heightened fears the disease could wreak havoc on the world economy.

Agence France-Presse