18/05/20 COVID-19 Global News Update

Japan has fallen into recession as the financial toll of the coronavirus continues to escalate. The world's third biggest economy shrank 3.4% in the first three months of 2020 compared to a year ago, its biggest slump since 2015.

Some construction firms will return to work and garden centres and hardware stores can reopen.

Mexico on Sunday reported 49,219 cases of the coronavirus, 2,075 more than the previous day, as the country prepares to resume economic activities deemed essential.

Italy and Spain are among a number of European countries that are set to further ease their coronavirus lockdown restrictions from Monday. Most businesses in Italy, including bars and hairdressers, will be free to reopen after more than two months of nationwide lockdown measures.

Lebanon will gradually reopen its economy beginning on Monday, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said, following a four-day shutdown imposed after a rise in coronavirus cases threatened a second wave of the outbreak.

Egypt will bring forward the start of its curfew by four hours to 5pm and halt public transport during the six-day Eid holiday from May 24 as it seeks to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the prime minister said on Sunday.

Ministers and officials from every nation will meet via video link on Monday for the annual world health assembly, which is expected to be dominated by efforts to stop rich countries monopolising drugs and future vaccines against Covid-19.

China has asked trading firms and food processors to boost inventories of grains and oilseeds as a possible second wave of coronavirus cases and worsening infection rates elsewhere raise concerns about global supply lines.

India said on Sunday it would privatise state-run companies in non-strategic sectors and stop fresh insolvency cases for a year, as the country battles with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Crisis has proved renewable energy is now a safer investment, and accelerated the shift. The global coal industry will “never recover” from the Covid-19 pandemic, industry observers predict, because the crisis has proved renewable energy is cheaper for consumers and a safer bet for investors.

Top-flight European clubs stand to lose more than £3.5bn because of Covid-19 even if the major domestic leagues and competitions reach their conclusion. The figure, across this season and next, was outlined in a meeting of stakeholders within the game last week. It is estimated if the competitions failed to ...

Some of Spain’s new coronavirus poor stood in long queues in the working-class district of Aluche on Saturday waiting to pick up bags of basic necessities, abruptly tipped into dependence on handouts by the pandemic.

Zimbabwe will keep its coronavirus lockdown for the time being, though businesses will be allowed to open for longer and the restrictions will be reviewed every two weeks, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Saturday.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday banned movement across the country’s borders with Tanzania and Somalia to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. He exempted cargo trucks but said drivers would have to be tested for COVID-19.

More than 31,600 Italians have died from Covid-19 since February, giving Italy one of the worst death tolls from the pandemic in the world - behind only the US and the UK.

Struggling to curb the spread of the coronavirus while the rest of Australia has begun relaxing a two-month lockdown, Victoria state on Saturday reported 11 new cases, including some linked to known clusters at a meat factory and a McDonald’s restaurant.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives approved a measure on Friday that would allow debate and a vote on a new $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill and a proposal to allow voting by proxy in the House.

Train companies will increase the number of services on Monday to reflect the easing of coronavirus travel restrictions in England.

A union has called for parity for all supply teachers as some have been left with "no financial support" due to school closures caused by the lockdown.

School leavers and graduates hoping to enter the labour market in Britain this year will struggle to find employment as firms slash entry-level jobs by nearly a quarter owing to the coronavirus crisis, a report warns.

English councils have called on the government to provide a £5bn "income guarantee" to prevent local authorities from having to cut services as the coronavirus hits finances. The County Councils Network has warned councils could lose £2.4bn as income from tax and business rates fall.

The government has given another £84m toward the UK’s two coronavirus vaccine trials as the Oxford University team has struck a licensing deal with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

The public’s trust in the UK government’s coronavirus strategy is in freefall, according to the latest polling. An Opinium/Obsever poll out today shows the government now has a net -3 rating for how it has handled the coronavirus, after having a +60 rating in mid-March.

Covid-19 has left the UK’s food and drink industry teetering on the brink. But whether transforming their businesses in a bid to stay afloat or volunteering in the community, many chefs, restaurants and producers have rapidly carved out new roles for themselves.

Among the billions of pounds of support the government has given to help prop up businesses, one measure announced this week passed with little notice. It's perhaps not surprising, as the words 'trade credit insurance' do not exactly quicken the the pulse.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said different approaches across the four UK nations to tackling coronavirus are not going to "help us out of this crisis". He blamed Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the way Wales and England had diverged in the easing of the lockdown.

Barriers closed a stretch of Deansgate, Manchester's main thoroughfare, to motor vehicles on Saturday. Elsewhere in the city, new pedestrian walkways and pop-up bike lanes have appeared.

Up to £500m in borrowing will be made available to help Jersey's economy through the coronavirus crisis, the Government of Jersey has announced. The island's Treasury said the funds would be used for "bold fiscal stimulus measures" to support economic recovery.

The UK Government has announced an additional £58 million to help the devolved administration in Scotland respond to the challenge of the coronavirus.

Household waste recycling centres are expected to reopen across Scotland on 1 June, according to the local government body Cosla. Councils have been reporting an increase in fly-tipping after the sites were closed in March due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Pregnant women and new mothers face being made redundant during the coronavirus crisis due to being unfairly discriminated against, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned.

More than half a million people have accessed online training that aims to prevent suicide in the last three weeks alone, a charity has said. The Zero Suicide Alliance said 503,000 users completed its online course during lockdown.

More than three-quarters of black, Asian and minority ethnic doctors are worried about contracting coronavirus in the course of their work, according to a survey that highlights the continuing lack of protection for frontline NHS staff.

Police across Wales say they have been "busy" dealing with visitors flouting lockdown laws. North Wales Police said they had turned around tourists from Manchester, Norwich and London as they tried to visit parts of Snowdonia.

Up to a fifth of patients with Covid-19 in several hospitals contracted the disease over the course of the pandemic while already being treated there for another illness, NHS bosses have told senior doctors and nurses.

A single mother has launched a legal challenge to overturn “perverse” benefit rules that have cancelled out the chancellor’s £90-a-month coronavirus living costs boost for thousands of low-income families on universal credit and left her £123 a month worse off than she was before the crisis.

An online platform for key workers to book coronavirus tests has been scrapped by the Welsh Government, which has opted to use a UK-wide system.

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has said that if the test, track and trace strategy were in place before reopening schools, that would reassure parents and teachers – a point also made by Rachel Reeves earlier this morning.

Boris Johnson has acknowledged frustration over the "complex" easing of England's coronavirus lockdown. The PM wrote in the Mail on Sunday that more complicated messages were needed during the next phase of the response and as restrictions changed.

A woman whose fertility treatment was suspended due to coronavirus has said she now has some hope after NHS clinics announced plans to re-open. Amanda Faulkiner-Farrow, 38, from Gwynedd, had said it was "soul destroying" to find out her scheduled treatment would not go ahead in June.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson announced schoolchildren and their families would be tested for coronavirus if they develop symptoms, as he struck a conciliatory tone on Saturday in a bid to reassure parents and appease unions.

The brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was one of 19 protesters arrested on Saturday, as small demonstrations against the coronavirus lockdown took place across the country.

Everyone in care homes in Wales will be able to get a coronavirus test, the Welsh government has said. The health minister, Vaughan Gething, said the change follows the latest scientific advice and brings Wales in line with England.

The government needs a clear strategy on testing to prevent a second wave of coronavirus infections, doctors have said. The Royal College of GPs said it was not confident in the government’s current testing strategy and accusing ministers of an “arbitrary focus on numbers” and targets.

Citizens Advice opened for business the day after the outbreak of World War Two to provide guidance to the masses in the "toughest of times".

As hundreds of thousands of children return to classrooms around New Zealand, welfare services are bracing themselves for a spike in reports of abuse and neglect after weeks of “invisible” lockdown. The country entered lockdown on 25 March and emerged late last week.

Plans are being made to investigate the potential of nicotine patches to combat Covid-19 after the idea was raised by doctors at a hospital in Wales where the improvised treatment is being practised.

Authorities are not seeing spikes in coronavirus cases in places that are reopening but are seeking increases in some areas that remain closed, U.S. health secretary Alex Azar said on Sunday.

The solution to the coronavirus may have been staring us in the face this whole time, lazily chewing on a carrot. All we need, it seems, is llamas.

An at-home coronavirus testing project in Seattle backed in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said on Saturday it was working with U.S. regulators to resume the program after being suspended by the Food and Drug Administration.

One of the world's oldest and best-known medical journals slammed Donald Trump's “inconsistent and incoherent national response” to the novel coronavirus pandemic and accused the administration of relegating the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to a “nominal” role.

The German Bundesliga resumes behind closed doors this weekend, becoming the first major European league to restart after the coronavirus shutdown.

A UK trial to see whether specialist medical sniffer dogs can detect coronavirus in humans is set to begin. The dogs are already trained to detect odours of certain cancers, malaria and Parkinson's disease by the charity Medical Detection Dogs.

Gilead Sciences Inc’s two clinical studies of its potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir will wind down by the end of May, closing off a path of patient access to the antiviral medication, according to U.S. researchers involved in the studies.

Sadiq Khan has called for a government inquiry into BAME deaths from coronavirus. Khan called the higher rate of deaths among BAME ethnicities “shocking” and called for Boris Johnson to set up a public inquiry.

Labour has compiled a detailed dossier on the government’s handling of coronavirus in care homes, as the party piles pressure on Boris Johnson for an investigation into the way the sector has been treated.

Education Secretary on the Government’s response to the outbreak of coronavirus and plans to begin returning to school safely.