ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s Prime Minister said on Tuesday that by the weekend he would reveal the steps the country will take to loosen restrictions, reopen the economy and emerge from the coronavirus crisis. Italy, which has reported more coronavirus deaths than any other European country, has been under national quarantine since March 9, with some regions imposing lock-downs even earlier. The quarantine period, which has been extended twice, is due to expire on […]
Tag: health
Trump vows immigration ban as US protestors demand lockdown end
by Michael Mathes, with Catherine Triomphe in Harrisburg and AFP bureaus Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump pledged a temporary ban on immigration to the United States because of the “invisible enemy” of coronavirus, as the disease sparked angry demonstrations on American streets to demand an end to crippling lockdowns. In just four months, the virus has turned the world upside down, confining half the planet indoors and killing nearly 170,000 […]
Italy mulls psychological tests to gauge lockdown impact
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italian scientists want the government to conduct psychological tests on a sample of the population to determine how long people can stay confined to their homes, a report said Monday. The Corriere della Sera newspaper said scientists want to understand how long Italians “are able to endure a lockdown” in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will announce a new set of social guidelines this week that […]
Italy’s current virus cases fall for first time
by Dmitry ZAKS Agence France Presse ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy reported its first drop on Monday in the number of people currently suffering from the novel coronavirus since it recorded its first infection in February. Those receiving intensive care treatment also fell to the lowest level in a month as Europe’s hardest-hit country began to see the first direct health benefits of its economically devastating lockdown. The civil protection service said 108,237 people were […]
Merkel urges ‘transparency’ from China on outbreak
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday urged China to be as transparent as possible about the coronavirus outbreak, as Beijing faces mounting pressure over its management of the crisis. Critics have accused China of downplaying the scale and scope of the outbreak when it first emerged late last year, while conspiracy theories have swirled in the US the virus could have been leaked from a lab. Merkel urged for more information […]
Trump to host NY governor Tuesday at W.House
PARIS, France (AFP) — US President Donald Trump announced Monday that he would welcome New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has spearheaded the response to his state’s coronavirus outbreaks, to the White House on Tuesday. “He is coming to the Oval Office tomorrow afternoon,” Trump told reporters. New York is the epicenter of the US coronavirus epidemic, and more than a third of the 41,000 deaths nationwide have come from the state. Trump has been […]
US anti-confinement protesters demand economic freedom
by Catherine TRIOMPHE Agence France Presse The incessant clang of car horns rang out in the US state of Pennsylvania Monday as hundreds of vehicles circled the Capitol building in a protest against confinement measures aimed at combatting the coronavirus. During the rally that lasted about three hours, many drove pick-up trucks decorated with American flags or slogans like “shelter in place isn’t freedom!” The Harrisburg demonstrators, arguing that public health regulations unduly threaten […]
France reaches ‘painful’ landmark of 20,000 virus dead
by Stuart WILLIAMS Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — France on Monday announced it had become the fourth country worldwide to register over 20,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus, after recording 547 new fatalities in the epidemic. “Tonight, our country has passed a barrier that is symbolic and particularly painful,” top health official Jerome Salomon told reporters. He announced that the country’s total death toll was 20,265, while welcoming new falls in the numbers […]
WHO insists it hid nothing, sounded virus alarm from start
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization insisted Monday that it sounded the alarm on the novel coronavirus right from the very start and had hidden nothing from Washington about the deadly pandemic. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there were no secrets at the UN agency after being blasted by the United States for allegedly downplaying the initial COVID-19 outbreak in China. “We have been warning from […]
40 RITM staff members test positive for COVID-19 forcing scaled down operations
(Eagle News) – At least 40 staff members of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) tested positive for COVID-19 forcing the facility to reduce operations to allow disinfection activities, and to investigate and do further tests on other employees. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that they are still determining the source of the infection, but that initial information that they have is that those who have been going home from the facility were […]
US state obtains ‘game-changing’ virus tests from South Korea
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US state of Maryland has received 500,000 coronavirus tests ordered from South Korea, a shipment Governor Larry Hogan said would be “game-changing” to efforts to implement widespread testing. “It enables us to identify those who are sick and those who have the virus and it can help us isolate them and do our contact tracing,” Hogan told a press conference in the state capital Annapolis. The $9 million purchase […]
Brazil President Bolsonaro joins demo against stay-at-home orders
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday joined hundreds of demonstrators outside army headquarters in the capital Brasilia protesting stay-at-home orders issued by state governors. The crowd of around 600 called on the army to intervene in the handling of the coronavirus pandemic and demanded the closure of Congress. Some held up posters declaring “Military intervention with Bolsonaro”. “I am here because I believe in you and you are here […]





