Coronavirus latest: at a glance
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
China’s Hubei province will lower its coronavirus emergency response from the highest to the second-highest level
China Xinhua News reports that central China’s Hubei province will lower its emergency response from the highest to the second-highest level starting on 2 May, citing a local official. The announcement follows months of strict lockdown. The virus was first detected in the province’s capital, Wuhan, in late 2019.
England’s and Wales’s deprived areas have double death rates of affluent ones
Residents in deprived areas have experienced double the death rates of those in affluent areas, figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal. Of the 20,283 Covid-19 registered deaths in England and Wales to 17 April, an overwhelming proportion of fatalities were of people from the poorest areas. The most deprived area had 55.1 deaths per 100,000 people, more than double (118%) that in the least deprived areas, where the rate was 25.3 deaths.
Russia reported 7,933 new cases of Covid-19 in record daily rise
Russia reported its biggest daily rise of confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, with 7,933 new cases. The record daily rise brings the nationwide tally to 114,431, Reuters reports. The official nationwide death toll rose to 1,169 after 96 people with the virus died in the last 24 hours, Russia’s coronavirus crisis response centre said.
Ryanair to cut 3,000 jobs as coronavirus grounds flights
Ryanair is planning to cut 3,000 jobs and reduce staff pay by up to a fifth in response to the Covid-19 crisis, which has grounded flights. The no-frills airline said it did not expect passenger numbers or pricing to return to pre-coronavirus levels until summer 2022 at the earliest. As part of a programme of sweeping cost cuts, Ryanair said it could close a number of bases across Europe until air travel recovered.
Queensland in Australia clears way for National Rugby League season to restart
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has opened Queensland’s border in preparation for restart of the National Rugby League (NRL) season on 28 May. Palaszczuk not only gave the green light for the state’s three NRL clubs to train at their base and travel interstate, but also host home games.
One million people have recovered from coronavirus
According to Johns Hopkins University data, more than 1 million people have recovered from coronavirus infection, with the total at 1,014,524. Infections worldwide stand at 3,269,667. More than 233,700 people have died in the pandemic so far.
Trump claims he has seen evidence that Covid-19 originated in Wuhan lab
When the president was asked if he has seen anything that gives you a “high degree of confidence” that coronavirus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Donald Trump replied: “Yes, I have.” His own government experts say the virus was “not manmade or genetically modified”. US intelligence agencies have been under pressure to link coronavirus to Chinese labs. Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, later said of the lab theory: “What we have before us doesn’t suggest that is a likely source.”
Read the original article at The Guardian