Coronavirus live news: prosecutors question Italian PM on decision not to lock down earlier
Japan is aiming to launch a smartphone contact tracking app next week to curb the spread of coronavirus, the health ministry has said.
Phones with the app installed can detect each other via Bluetooth and log those who have come into close contact.
If a user is found to be infected, people who spent more than 15 minutes within a radius of one metre (3.3 feet) of that individual over the previous 14 days will be notified that they were in close contact with a coronavirus-infected person, and be prompted to seek medical consultation.
Messages will only be sent if the infected individual gives consent, and those with a positive diagnosis will remain anonymous to receivers of the notification.
“By knowing the possibility of having come into contact with someone tested positive for the new coronavirus, (app) users can get early support from a public health centre such as an access to a diagnostic test,” a health ministry statement said on Friday.
“We expect an increase in the number of users will help prevent the spread of infection.”
My colleagues Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Amrit Dhillon have written a poignant report on how the pandemic has pushed the Indian healthcare system to the bring of collapse.
Cases in India, currently at 298,000, are now increasing by 10,000 per day and the country has overtaken the UK to be the fourth-worst hit in the world. India’s biggest cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai are not only running out of beds, but also doctors and nurses to treat the unprecedented numbers of patients, and university medical professors have been seconded to work on Covid hospital wards out of desperation.
Private hospitals have been charging upwards of 80,000 rupees (£840) per night for those who are admitted with Covid symptoms, unaffordable prices for even middle-class let alone poorer Indians.
You can read the full story here:
I’m Amy Walker, taking over the global coronavirus blog while my colleague Jessica Murray takes a break. You can get in touch with me on Twitter (@amyrwalker).
Turkey’s top medical association has criticised the decision to ease coronavirus restrictions, saying moves were not backed by science and came too soon, before the country had overcome the pandemic’s initial wave.
Since 1 June, Turkey has lifted weekend stay-home orders, ended curbs on intercity travel, resumed some international flights and re-opened cafes, restaurants, parks, beaches and gyms.
The government has urged the public to remain cautious, while characterising the handling of the outbreak as a success.
Nearly 4,800 have died of Covid-19 so far in Turkey, according to official data, with the daily death toll falling in recent weeks to about 20.
But Cavit Işık Yavuz, a member of the coronavirus research team at the Turkish Medics Association’s (TTB), said there was still no proof that the outbreak was under control, and warned the lifting restrictions was resulting in more infections.
Yavuz told an online press conference:
At times, there is talk of when the second wave will hit, but we have not yet been able to overcome the first wave.
The early re-opening decisions that are not based on scientific facts, especially since June 1, have caused a rise in case numbers and the number of patients receiving treatment in ICUs and needing respirators.
Turkey’s daily tally of newly recorded coronavirus cases has hovered just below 1,000 for two weeks, according to government data. The figure had dipped as far as 786 on 2 June after a drop-off last month.
On Wednesday, health minister Fahrettin Koca said there had been a rise in daily cases in certain provinces, but said this had stabilised. President Tayyip Erdoğan also warned of an uptick last week even as he revoked the weekend lockdown, citing a public backlash.
Yavuz said:
We are looking for a scientific basis for nearly all the measures that are being eased, but we cannot find any.
We find it odd that in a pandemic where we lost nearly 5,000 citizens, there is an effort to find a success story.
Canada’s two largest grocery chains have announced plans to wind down ‘emergency’ pay for employees, despite taking in record profits during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic— a move that has prompted outrage from union leaders.
Loblaws and Metro have both rolled out a C$2/hour premium during the pandemic in recognition that employees faced increased risk as front line workers.
“Our supermarkets and pharmacies are performing well,” Loblaws head Galen Weston said in late March, when the pay increase was rolled out. “And the leaders in our business wanted to make sure that a significant portion of that benefit would go straight into the pockets of the incredible people on the front line.”
As of 13 June, both companies will end the pay increase. They will pay out a bonus to each employee: full time workers at Loblaws will receive C$140 and those at Metro will be given C$200.
Loblaws, which owns a number of grocery store brands across the country, recorded windfall profits in its first quarter, up to C$240m from C$198m the same quarter last year.
Metro also reported a surge in profit, banking C$176m in its most recent quarter, compared to C$122m the year before.
The decision to wind down pay has outraged union leaders, who say the pandemic is not over and the danger to workers remains present.
Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, said in a statement:
The pandemic is not over. The danger has not passed. These workers are no less at risk and are no less essential today than they were yesterday. There is no justification for ending pandemic pay now, or ever.
Retail workers have always been essential, and they have always deserved much better. The fact is, the pandemic did not make these workers essential and did not create the inequities in retail, it simply exposed them.
Prosecutors questioned Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte for about three hours on Friday over his handling of the coronavirus emergency, his office confirmed.
Prosecutors from Bergamo, the city in the northern Lombardy region worst hit by the virus, have launched an investigation into why two cities were not designated so-called “red zones” earlier on in the crisis.
The epidemic has killed over 34,000 in Italy, one of the hardest hit countries in the world, mostly in the country’s north.
Chief prosecutor Maria Cristina Rota and her team are trying to find out why a lockdown was not enforced early in the health emergency around the towns of Nembro and Alzano in the province of Bergamo.
Health experts say had the area been quarantined, many lives would have been saved.
Local newspaper Eco di Bergamo features several pages of obituaries in its 17 March 17 2020 edition, in Mediglia, Italy. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP
The team has already met with senior officials in Lombardy, who say it was up to Rome to decide whether certain areas should be shut.
Conte has countered that regions had full discretion to close certain areas where the virus had begun to flare in late February and early March.
“If Lombardy had wanted to, it could have made Alzano and Nembro red zones,” he has said.
The first town in Italy to be quarantined was Codogno, about an hour south of Nembro and Alzano, on 21 February.
Another nine towns around Codogno were subsequently locked down before the entire region of Lombardy and 14 provinces in neighbouring regions of Veneto, Piedmont and Emilia Romagna were quarantined on 8 March.
Conte imposed a nationwide quarantine on 10 March.
On Thursday, Conte said he welcomed the Bergamo investigation and was “not at all worried”.
I will conscientiously set out all the facts of which I have knowledge.
All investigations are welcome. The citizens have the right to know and we have the right to reply.
Separate from the investigation led by Rota, about 50 family members of coronavirus victims in the province of Bergamo filed complaints on Wednesday, the first such legal group action in Italy, over the handling of the crisis.
Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of getting Covid-19:
Does it matter what sort of mask you wear?
Yes. Different types of mask offer different levels of protection. Surgical grade N95 respirators offer the highest level of protection against Covid-19 infection, followed by surgical grade masks.
However, these masks are costly, in limited supply, contribute to landfill waste and are uncomfortable to wear for long periods.
So even countries that have required the public to wear face masks have generally suggested such masks should be reserved for health workers or those at particularly high risk.
The evidence on the protective value of single-use paper masks or reusable cloth coverings is less clear, but still suggests that face masks can contribute to reducing transmission of Covid-19. Analysis by the Royal Society said this included homemade cloth face masks.
Are paper surgical single-use masks better or is a cloth mask OK?
The evidence on any mask use, outside of surgical masks, is still emerging: there appears to be some benefit, but the exact parameters of which masks are the best and the extent to which they protect the wearer or those around them are still being figured out.
A tighter fitting around the face is probably better, but the CDC suggests any covering, including a bandana, is better than none.
One US study investigated which household materials best removed particles of 0.3-1.0 microns in diameter, the typical size of viruses and bacteria, and concluded that good options include vacuum cleaner bags, heavyweight “quilter’s cotton” or multiple layers of material. Scarves and bandana material were less effective, but still captured a fraction of particles.
Kira Hilli of the Netherlands National Ballet dances in a tutu with a diameter of 3 metres. The so-called social distance tutu was made specially for safe-distance ballet. Photograph: Remko de Waal/EPA
The European commission has received a political mandate from EU governments to negotiate on their behalf advance purchases of promising coronavirus vaccines, the EU’s top health official said, urging states to set aside parallel initiatives.
EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides told a news conference there was “overwhelming” support from EU governments for a commission plan to use a €2.4bn ($2.7bn) fund to buy coronavirus vaccines upfront.
Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands are already in talks with pharmaceutical companies to buy vaccines, a move that could weaken the EU’s joint approach.
Kyriakides said the two initiatives had the same goal, adding: “Both tracks should converge for the benefits of all 27. This is about working together and not in competition.”
A South African court has started hearing a challenge by the main opposition party against a government-imposed ban on personal care services to limit the spread of coronavirus.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) party on Monday filed a lawsuit in the Western Cape high court to have the ban – which prevents hairdressers, beauticians and tattoo artists from working – declared “invalid and unconstitutional”.
Most other businesses have been allowed to resume their activities since South Africa moved into level three of a strict five-tier lockdown at the start of June. Personal care services such as hairdressing remained shut as they were deemed “high-risk” activities unable to ensure social distancing requirements.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said in a statement:
The reality is that the devastation from the continued economic lockdown will see more lives lost than the virus could ever harm. Government must stop driving fear and empower people to work and protect themselves and their livelihoods.
South Africa has the continent’s highest number of coronavirus cases, with more than 58,500 infections and at least 1,284 deaths recorded to date. But the economic costs of the lockdown have stoked disagreement between political parties and the opposition has grown increasingly critical of the government’s response to the outbreak.
Last month, the DA filed another legal challenge against some other coronavirus lockdown rules, including a ban on e-commerce and a night curfew.
“I would emphasise that we’ve obviously brought these quarantine rules into place to protect public health and ensure we don’t import the virus as cases in the community reduce,” the spokesman told reporters, adding that the government does not comment on “ongoing legal matters”.
French superchef Alain Ducasse is using a ventilation system similar to those in hospital operating theatres to reopen one of his Paris restaurants.
Ducasse, whose restaurants have 17 Michelin stars – the most of any chef in the world – is installing the sophisticated system in his historic Allard bistro in the Saint Germain des Pres district of the French capital so it can open later this month.
Paris restaurants have been allowed to serve on their terraces for 10 days but strict social distancing rules mean the interiors remain off limits.
Diners in Paris bistros and cafes traditionally sit almost elbow to elbow on small tables – a nightmare for restaurateurs who have been told by that tables must now be at least one metre a part.
“No restaurant can survive with only half of its customers,” Ducasse told AFP as he unveiled his air filtration system at the Allard, whose tables will also be screened off with sail cloth blinds.
Large white air “socks” decorated with drawings of the gods and goddesses of the wind hang over every table from the overhead ventilation pipes, gently pushing stale air away.
And customers will also be offered round transparent “separators” to be placed on their table for additional safety when French restaurants are due to fully reopen on 22 June.
French chef Alain Ducasse in his restaurant Allard in Paris, equipped with an anti-Covid filtering system. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images
Ducasse said his prototype will “give extra safety to customers in confined spaces” and was a possible solution for tightly packed bistros which could lose half their tables if distancing rules are rigidly applied.
Designer Patrick Jouin, whose work is displayed at MOMA in New York as well as the Paris Pompidou Centre, said he talked to scientists and virologists before coming up with the air system.
Norwaywill allow travel to and from Finland, Iceland and the Swedish island of Gotland from 15 June, but is maintaining existing travel restrictions imposed on mainland Sweden due to its higher level of Covid-19 cases.
Denmark, Finland and Norway have lifted some of the travel restrictions they imposed to slow the spread of Covid-19, but they have kept most of the ones imposed on Sweden.
“I think we need to be honest and say that in the Nordics this is something of a difficult issue at the moment,” prime minister Erna Solberg told a news conference. She added:
At the same time we have a good conversation about how we’re doing it, and the fact that we’re applying objective criteria has been met with understanding.
Norway will assess the public health situation of each region in the Nordics separately and will review its travel advice every fortnight, starting 15 June, said Solberg.
Gotland, a Baltic island with close to 60,000 inhabitants, is the only Swedish region Norway will allow citizens to travel to without having to undergo a ten-day quarantine when going home.
Sweden adopted fewer lockdown restrictions and by 10 June 10 its Covid-19 deaths were 4,717 – four times the number in the other Nordic countries combined.
Europe needs to become more independent in supplying itself with face masks and certain medicines as it battles the coronavirus outbreak, German health ministerJens Spahn has said.
Spahn told a news conference:
It’s not about calling globalisation into question – it’s about finding the right degree of globalisation.
When it comes to face masks and certain medications, we’ve seen that we should not make ourselves completely dependent on the global market.
Decisions should not be made in China about whether we have protective masks for carers or doctors in Warsaw, Amsterdam or Berlin.
Economy minister Peter Altmaier has previously said that the coronavirus pandemic has shown Europe is too reliant on other countries for some medical supplies, and European states should work together to further diversify international supply chains.
Deaths from coronavirus in New Delhi are almost twice as high as official figures show, a city leader said, as India overtook Britain with the fourth-highest number of cases worldwide.
With India’s lockdown being widely eased, the government has been reporting almost 10,000 new confirmed cases every day with infections totalling almost 300,000, including 8,500 deaths.
Densely populated megacities such as Delhi and Mumbai are the worst affected, stretching hospitals to breaking point.
But data in Delhi is understating the true scale of the outbreak, said Jai Prakash, standing committee head of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, one of the three sub-districts that make up the capital.
Citing data from the city’s busy crematoriums and cemeteries, Prakash said on Thursday that just over 2,000 people have died from the virus across the city – almost twice the official toll.
“These were corona positive cases. We have a separate record of funerals of some another 200 suspected cases,” Prakash told reporters.
People wait by the burning pyre of a person who died of Covid-19, at a crematorium in New Delhi, India. Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP
But the party that governs Delhi as a whole, which has come under fire for its handling of the health crisis, rejected the claims.
“This is a time to unite and save lives of people. This is not the time to make allegations,” the Aam AadmiParty said in a statement.
Financial capital Mumbai is officially India’s worst affected city with almost 2,000 fatalities.
Parts of the Dharavi area in Mumbai, one of Asia’s largest slums, have been under strict months-long lockdown. The number of new cases has been easing, with 20 new infections confirmed on Friday.
The death toll in the southern city of Chennai is at least 460, more than double the official figure, media reports said this week.
Despite the surge in cases nationally, which is being mirrored elsewhere in South Asia, prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has declared the lockdown a success and has been steadily lifting restrictions
