Coronavirus update: More than 14 million people in Latin America could go hungry, India facing COVID-19, heatwaves and locusts
In Latin America, one of the world’s most vulnerable regions, the effect of the coronavirus pandemic is forecast to push more than 14 million people into extreme hunger, the UN World Food Program has warned.
Meanwhile, there have been fears of a second wave in South Korea after the country recorded 79 new cases of coronavirus — its biggest 24-hour tally in almost two months and the third straight day of rising cases.
In the US, issues with reporting, particularly in the early stages of the pandemic, could mean the 100,000-death milestone that the country just passed was actually hit some time ago, according to the man in charge of statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This story will be regularly updated throughout Thursday.
Thursday’s key moments:
South Korea sees biggest daily spike since April 5
“There is ample evidence we are missing some [US deaths],” CDC says
SA Health forced into awkward backtracking after blaming Victoria for imported case
Britain setting up taskforces, trialling app to tackle localised outbreaks
India’s confirmed coronavirus cases surpass 150,000
South Korea records highest daily case jump in 50 days
Moscow to lift strict lockdown measures within days
Donald Trump’s touted coronavirus drug dropped by more countries over safety concerns
EU unveils trillion-dollar coronavirus economic recovery plan
The latest numbers from around Australia
The Government has released its latest numbers around the coronavirus pandemic, confirming there have been 7,150 cases in Australia, with 103 deaths.
Here’s a look at how things have played out across the states.
| State | Total cases | Recoveries | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | 3,090 | 2,670 | 48 |
| VIC | 1,628 | 1,544 | 19 |
| TAS | 228 | 203 | 13 |
| WA | 570 | 550 | 9 |
| QLD | 1,058 | 1,045 | 7 |
| SA | 440 | 435 | 4 |
| ACT | 107 | 104 | 3 |
| NT | 29 | 29 | 0 |
| Total | 7,150 | 6,580 | 103 |
These figures have been taken from official Government tallies and were last updated at 6:00pm.
UN: Virus could push 14 million into hunger in Latin America
The UN World Food Program has warned that upward of at least 14 million people could go hungry in Latin America as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, shutting people in their homes, drying up work and crippling the economy.
New projections have estimated a startling increase to the 3.4 million people who experienced severe food insecurity in 2019 — that number could more than quadruple this year in one of the world’s most vulnerable regions.
Signs of mounting hunger are already being felt around Latin America, where desperate citizens are violating quarantines to go out in search of money and food and hanging red and white flags from their homes in a cry for aid.
The number of people going hungry is likely to be higher than the UN projection, which only takes into account numbers in the 11 countries where the organisation operates.
The estimate does not include, for example, Venezuela, where one in every three people faced hunger last year, according to the food agency’s 2019 study.
Brazil now ranks second globally in the number of coronavirus infections, behind the US, and rising levels in Peru, Chile, Mexico and elsewhere are stretching hospitals thin, increasingly in poor urban and remote rural communities.
Virus, heatwave and locusts form perfect storm in India
India has grappled with scorching temperatures and the worst locust invasion in decades as authorities prepared for the end of a months-long lockdown despite recording thousands of new coronavirus infections every day.
This triple disaster drew biblical comparisons and forced officials to try to balance the competing demands of simultaneous public health crises: encourage people to protect themselves from eviscerating heat but also practice social distancing in newly reopened parks and markets.
The heatwave threatens to compound the challenges of containing the virus, which has started spreading more quickly and broadly since the Government began easing restrictions of one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns earlier this month.
Temperatures have soared to 47.6 degrees Celsius in New Delhi this week, marking the warmest May day in 18 years, and 50C in the desert state of Rajasthan, after the world’s hottest April on record.
Cyclone Amphan, a massive super storm that crossed the unusually warm Bay of Bengal last week, sucked up huge amounts of moisture, leaving dry, hot winds to form a heatwave over parts of central and northern India.
At the same time, swarms of desert locusts have devastated crops in India’s heartland, threatening an already vulnerable region that is struggling with the economic cost of the lockdown.
Meanwhile, India reported another record single-day jump of more than 6,500 coronavirus cases on Thursday, pushing up the total to 158,613 confirmed cases and 4,540 deaths.
UK low-cost airline EasyJet to axe up to 30 per cent of staff
British low-cost airline EasyJet has announced plans to cut up to 30 per cent of its staff, or 4,500 jobs, and shrink its fleet to fit the smaller market that will emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.
EasyJet, which employs over 15,000 people in eight countries across Europe, said it would launch a consultation process with its staff in the coming days, acting later than many of its airline peers to announce job cuts as a result of COVID-19.
It is also making deeper cuts than peers like Ryanair, which has said it would lay off 15 per cent of its staff.
Ryanair, EasyJet’s bigger low-cost rival, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have over the last month announced 18,000 job cuts between them.
EasyJet said it would reduce its aircraft fleet to around 302 planes, about 51 aircraft lower than it had been planning for the end of 2021.
It expects to be flying around 30 per cent of its capacity later this year.
South Korea has worst day for infections in almost two months
South Korea has reported 79 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the most since April 5 and the third straight day of rising infections, raising the spectre of a second wave of disease in a country widely praised for containing the initial outbreak.
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said at least 69 cases so far this week had been linked to a cluster of infections at a logistics facility operated by Coupang Corp, one of the country’s largest online shopping firms, in Bucheon, west of Seoul.
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Thousands of staff members have been tested, according to Coupang, which has had a windfall during the pandemic thanks to a rise in online shopping.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), the new cases brought the country’s total as of midnight on Wednesday to 11,344 with 269 deaths.
The warehouse cluster appears linked to an outbreak that the KCDC said, and comes as the country seeks to ease social-distancing rules, reopen schools and keep new virus infections in check.
Unlike many countries, South Korea did not impose a strict lockdown to counter COVID-19, but officials said if new cases kept rising, they may consider issuing new guidelines.
US death toll passes 100,000 as CDC warns ‘we are missing some’
A grim milestone that had been forecast for days has arrived in the United States, with.
According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center the death toll climbed to 100,047 on Friday morning (AEST), accounting for more than 28 per cent of the world’s confirmed tally.
The accuracy of the numbers has been debated in the US.
The most recent death data is gathered through searches of preliminary reports that doctors send to state and local health departments. Those numbers appear on different websites, including those of government agencies, some news organisations and the widely shared Johns Hopkins site.
Robert Anderson of the CDC said they were reasonably accurate, but it can be hard to know for certain exactly what the numbers are due to many factors, including the deaths of older people with other conditions and some of the earliest fatalities that likely went unreported before the scope of the pandemic was clear.
“In the beginning of any epidemic, where physicians and healthcare workers have less experience with a disease, they’re more likely to miss it or misdiagnose it as something else,” Dr Anderson, who oversees the CDC’s death statistics, said.
In April the CDC told states to include probable COVID-19 cases in their reports to the agency, including people without positive test results but who exhibited other evidence like exhibiting symptoms or having had exposure to infected people. Even so, 28 states still only count lab-confirmed deaths.
“I think there is ample evidence to suggest we are missing some,” Dr Anderson said.
Health Minister wants the National Cabinet to hang around
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has told the media the National Cabinet has been effective in bringing together leaders from all around the country and he wants it to stick around.
He said Prime Minister Scott Morrison was acutely aware that there needed to be a unified approach in tackling coronavirus, both economically and medically, and the regular meetings of federal, state and territory leaders had helped to ensure that.
“He set out to have not just a single, unified medical voice, but to have the unity with the states,” Mr Hunt said.
“And I believe that that National Cabinet process has been extremely valuable.
“I hope that there is support for it from the states and the premiers and the chief ministers going forward.”
The National Cabinet was meeting twice a week at the height of the crisis, but it has become a less regular occurrence as the curve has flattened.
SA Health backtracks after blaming Victoria for allowing coronavirus case into state
SA Health has admitted that it was told the travel details of a UK resident who later tested positive for coronavirus at Adelaide Airport.
The woman aged in her fifties travelled from the UK to Victoria, where she was given an exemption from quarantine to visit a dying relative in Adelaide.
This morning, South Australia’s Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier told ABC Radio Adelaide that health officials only became aware of the woman’s arrival when she self-declared at Adelaide Airport on the weekend.
But in a later statement, she confirmed the relevant flight details were provided to SA Health prior to the patient’s arrival.
She blamed the confusion on an “administrative oversight”.
Albanese flags possible trans-Tasman travel before states open
Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has joined the chorus of voices calling for flights to New Zealand to be allowed even while some state borders remain closed.
New Zealand and Australia are pushing ahead with talks to establish a “travel bubble” that would allow passenger flights to resume across the Tasman.
Most states and territories in Australia have not yet reopened their borders due to the coronavirus crisis, causing some angst between leaders, but Mr Albanese hopes the countries can reach an agreement, even if only for New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.
“It’s certainly possible that would occur in terms of NSW and Victoria, the only two states along with the ACT that don’t have closed borders,” he said.
“If agreements could be got with New Zealand that would be a good thing.”
This is despite New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying earlier this week that she wanted to see Australians allowed to travel within their own country allowing travel between the nations.
“Obviously I would expect to see some of those issues resolved before we’d see them necessarily opening up to New Zealand and you can understand why,” she told Radio New Zealand.
“People want to be able to travel internally in Australia before they’d expect to be able to come across the ditch.”
Britain setting up new taskforces, app similar to Australia’s
Britain will gradually move towards more localised action to tackle local coronavirus flare-ups, as opposed to the nationwide measures taken so far, according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a COVID-19 test and trace service is set to begin in England to allow the loosening of lockdown measures for most of the population.
The service, which will have a taskforce of 40,000 specialists to test those with symptoms and identify their contacts, will not initially include the app that is key to finding anonymous contacts, similar to Australia’s COVIDSafe app.
Mr Hancock said the app, which is being trialled on the Isle of Wight, would be rolled out at a later date.
Contacts will be instructed to isolate for 14 days, even if they have no symptoms, Mr Johnson said, adding that it was a “huge imposition” but it would only apply to a “very, very small minority of the population”.
He said the system would initially rely on the “public spiritedness” of Britons, but sanctions could be imposed if people did not comply.
‘Europe’s moment’: EU unveils $1.2 trillion recovery plan
The European Union has proposed a 750 billion euro (A$1.2 trillion) recovery fund to help combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic in Europe.
The fund, which would be made up of grants and loans from all 27-EU member states, would primarily go towards the European nations worst hit by the crisis, such as Italy and Spain.
The economies of Italy and Spain, along with Greece, France and Portugal, already have high debt and all rely heavily on the tourism sector — one of the hardest his by the pandemic.
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The plan, named “Europe’s Moment: Repair and Prepare for the Next Generation”, was announced by European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday.
“We either all go it alone, leaving countries, regions and people behind and accepting a union of haves and have-nots, or we walk that road together,” she said.
Under the proposal, which could still be blocked by more frugal northern nations, the European Commission would borrow the funds from the market and then disburse two-thirds in grants and the rest in loans to cushion the unprecedented slump expected this year due to lockdowns.
The plan has received initial backing from EU heavyweights France, Germany, Italy and Spain but will need the unanimous backing of all 27 member states.
Nothing can stop football in Brazil
Despite Brazil’s status as the second-most-infected country in the world, football teams have returned to training this week.
The first task for the clubs was to evaluate the fitness of players after the COVID-19 lockdown.
Brazilian champions Flamengo said in a statement the fitness tests and subsequent training regimes would respect social distancing and hygiene rules, and that players and officials would be tested regularly.
Earlier this month, the club said three first-team players had tested positive for COVID-19, along with 35 others at the club. The team’s long-time masseur died of the disease at the start of May.
Atletico Mineiro resumed training last week, but with key differences amid the pandemic; smaller group training sessions, face masks, and sanitised water bottles.
Brazil’s state championships have been suspended since mid-March. Only a few top clubs have recalled their players for training and no date has been set for the season to restart.
Americas has ‘become the epicentre’ of COVID-19
The WHO director for the Americas has called her region the epicentre of coronavirus.
Dr Carissa Etienne, also head of the Pan American Health Organization, said “now is not the time for countries to ease restrictions”.
“Our region has become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr Etienne said.
Brazil has now recorded over 391,000 cases, the second-highest number worldwide, behind the United States.
The death toll in Brazil is also creeping higher with over 24,500 deaths recorded but there are fears that the number may actually be much higher.
Several other countries in the region have recorded a surge in cases, including Peru, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
The United States has recorded the largest number of cases and deaths, and Brazil has been marked as the second-worst-hit country.
India’s confirmed cases surpass 150,000
India’s coronavirus caseload has surpassed 150,000, with another single-day high of more than 6000 reported.
The spike comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government prepares a new set of guidelines, with the fourth phase of the two-month-old lockdown across the country set to end on Sunday.
The Health Ministry reported 151,767 cases on Wednesday, a jump of 6387, with 4337 deaths — an increase of 170 in the past 24 hours. It said 64,426 people have recovered from the virus.
Most of the cases are concentrated in five of India’s 28 states.
An increase has also been reported in some of the country’s poorest eastern states as migrant workers returning to native villages from large cities have begun arriving home on special trains.
South Korea records biggest case jump in 50 days
In South Korea, 40 newly confirmed cases — the biggest daily jump in nearly 50 days — raised alarms as millions of children returned to school on Wednesday.
All but four of the new cases were in the Seoul region, where officials are scrambling to stop transmissions linked to nightclubs, karaoke rooms and a massive e-commerce warehouse.
All were reopened last month when social distancing measures were relaxed.
The country’s top infectious disease expert said South Korea may need to reimpose social distancing restrictions because it’s becoming increasingly difficult for health workers to track the spread of COVID-19 amid warmer weather and eased attitudes on distancing.
Seoul and nearby cities had restored some control in recent weeks by reclosing thousands of bars, karaoke rooms and other entertainment venues to slow the spread of the virus.
Moscow to lift strict lockdown measures
President Vladimir Putin said Moscow, the epicentre of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak, had succeeded in preventing what he called the worst-case scenario as the city looked to easing tough lockdown measures within days.
Speaking to Moscow Mayor and ally Sergei Sobyanin by video conference, Mr Putin said it was obvious the situation in the city of 12.7 million people had stabilised thanks to what he described as timely and focused steps taken by the authorities.
Mr Putin said it was now time for Moscow to provide medical help to a handful of regions where the coronavirus remained rampant.
“The situation in Moscow, like elsewhere in the country, is really stabilising. The number of coronavirus cases in Moscow has halved. More people are being discharged from hospital than being admitted,” Mr Putin said.
Mr Sobyanin told Mr Putin he planned to loosen the capital’s lockdown from June 1.
Residents would be allowed to go out in the street and parks for walks at certain times, and non-food shops could reopen along with certain services such as dry-cleaners and repair shops.
UK Government to help companies prepare for Brexit and COVID-19
The British Government is working with businesses to help them prepare for the departure from the European Union even as it helps them cope with the coronavirus pandemic, cabinet office minister Michael Gove said on Wednesday.
“We are not considering an implementation phase,” he told a parliamentary committee, adding that staying within the purview of the EU would mean additional costs for taxpayers.
“What we will do is make sure that businesses adjust appropriately to the situation on the 1st of January once we’re outside the Customs Union and the Single Market.
“Obviously we’ve all been preoccupied by the COVID pandemic … it is also the case though that we can step up our engagement with business in advance of December 31.”
Trump-cited drug dropped by France, Italy and Belgium
Hydroxychloroquine — the generic anti-malaria drug reportedly used by US President Donald Trump to prevent the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 — has been dropped by France, Italy and Belgium over safety concerns.
France on Wednesday cancelled a decree allowing hospital doctors to dispense the medicine, while the Italian Medicine Agency (AIFA) suspended authorisation to use hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 outside clinical trials.
Belgium’s medicine agency warned against using the drug to treat the virus any more except within ongoing clinical registered trials.
The moves by three of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus infections and deaths follow a World Health Organization (WHO) decision to pause a large trial of hydroxychloroquine due to safety concerns.
In March, France allowed the use of hydroxychloroquine — which beyond malaria is approved to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis — in specific situations for hospital treatment of COVID-19.
Italian health authorities concluded that the risks, coupled with little evidence hydroxychloroquine was beneficial against COVID-19, merited a ban outside of clinical trials.
“New clinical evidence on the use of hydroxychloroquine in subjects with SARS-CoV-2 [novel coronavirus] infection … indicates an increased risk for adverse reactions with little or no benefit,” AIFA said.
The WHO said a safety panel would act by mid-June to evaluate the drug’s use in its multi-country trial of potential COVID-19 treatments.
