World
Bolsonaro visits market to press need to keep Brazil going during pandemic
BRASILIA (Reuters) – President Jair Bolsonaro visited a market area just outside the Brazilian capital on Sunday to press home his case for keeping Latin America’s largest economy ticking instead of locking down activities to...
NZ govt releases information about Covid-19 in nine Pacific languages
New Zealand’s Ministry for Pacific Peoples has translated key messages and advice about Covid-19 into nine Pacific languages. That information is available below: Cook Islands Fiji Kiribati Niue Rotuma Samoa Tokelau Tonga Tuvalu
Canada army not needed right now to help combat coronavirus spread – Trudeau
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada is not planning for the moment to use troops to help combat a spreading coronavirus outbreak, although the option remains on the table, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday. All 10 provinces have declared states of emergency and ordered people to stay home. The number of cases rose to 5,866...
NZ to make decision on Cook Islands quarantine station in Auckland
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Cabinet are to decide tomorrow whether to accede to a Cook Islands supervised quarantine centre in Auckland. Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna announced the plans, and invited Cook Islanders to make their way there – but without New Zealand’s sign-off. The quarantine centre is planned to...
Trump says U.S. will not pay for security protection for Prince Harry
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States would not pay for security protection for Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, who, according to media reports, have settled in Los Angeles. Trump wrote on Twitter that “now they have left Canada for the U.S. however, the U.S. will not...
French Polynesia Covid-19 tally rises to 34
The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia has risen by four to 34. The update from the government said the hospitalisation rate is unchanged with one person in care. Last night a curfew was declared for the first time, forcing residents across all islands to stay indoor from 8pm to 5am....
France moves patients from swamped hospitals as death toll climbs
PARIS (Reuters) – France used two high-speed trains and a German military plane to move more than three dozen critically ill coronavirus patients on Sunday to ease the pressure on overwhelmed hospitals in eastern France. The Grand Est region was the first in France to be hit by a wave of coronavirus infections that has...
CNMI records two confirmed Covid-19 cases
The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas has recorded its first two cases of Covid-19 according to the Governor. Ralph Torres announced the positive results during a hurriedly organized press conference last night at the Commonwealth Health Care Corporation. In a statement later released, the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force said the two cases are a 42-year-old...
Germany’s coronavirus support will last two months, think tank tells paper
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s 750 billion euro (669.8 billion pounds) package to soften the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak on Europe’s largest economy will last for about two months, an independent economics think tank told a German newspaper group. “In the short term, we are in a kind of war economy in which the...
Travellers from US quarantined in American Samoa
Forty-two of the 145 passengers who arrived on the Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu Thursday night have been quarantined. This is the biggest group of travellers that have been taken in for quarantine since the Covid-19 outbreak World-wide. Director of Health Motusa Tuileama Nua said none of the travellers displayed signs of illness but all...
Coronavirus deaths fall again in Italy but lockdown extension looms
ROME (Reuters) – The number of deaths from coronavirus in Italy fell for the second consecutive day on Sunday but the country still looked almost certain to see an extension of stringent containment measures. The Civil Protection department said 756 people had died in the last day, bringing the total to 10,779 – more than...
Covid-19 diagnosed in outer island of French Polynesia
The Covid-19 outbreak in French Polynesia has spread to Rangiroa in the Tuamotus. This has been confirmed by the health minister only hours after the authorities reported a rise in the number of positive tests by four to 34. The person in Rangiroa has reportedly been in isolation since arriving from Tahiti. Last week, several...
U.S. could face 200,000 coronavirus deaths, millions of cases, Fauci warns
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. deaths from coronavirus could reach 200,000 with millions of cases, the government’s top infectious diseases expert warned on Sunday as New York, New Orleans and other major cities pleaded for more medical supplies. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, estimated in an interview with...
PNG activates mores teams to deal with Covid-19 threat
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister says the same systems that helped keep Polio at bay last year have been activated to deal with the threat of Covid-19. In 2019, a mammoth cross-country vaccination effort, involving over three million children, reined in a Polio outbreak. James Marape said provincial teams that were put together to administer...
Northern Ireland brings in tough measures to fight coronavirus
BELFAST (Reuters) – Northern Ireland will introduce “sweeping new powers” to combat the spread of coronavirus from 2300 GMT on Saturday, with many restrictions on businesses tougher than the rest of the United Kingdom. The British region will prohibit anyone from leaving home without reasonable excuse, compel certain premises to shut and use its power...
Covid-19 cases in Guam continue to rise
The number of Covid-19 cases has continued to rise in Guam over the weekend. By Saturday the US terroritory had already reached 55 cases, including one death. Last night, the Governor’s Press Secretary, Krystal Paco-San Agustin, announced another case had now been confirmed. “The Guam Public Health Lab tested 23 samples for Covid-19. Of those...
India to use some train coaches as coronavirus isolation wards
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – India said on Saturday it was planning to turn some railway coaches into isolation wards for patients with coronavirus, as authorities scramble to prepare the country’s health infrastructure for an expected surge in cases. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the country’s 1.3 billion people this week to stay indoors for three...
Tonga now in lockdown
Tonga’s week-long national lockdown began on Sunday as authorities strive to keep the country Covid-19 free. There have been no confirmed cases in Tonga with eight suspected cases returning negative tests last week. Despite this the government introduced a State of Emergency and a lockdown, including a night curfew which began on Sunday. Our correspondent...
China reports smaller number of new daily coronavirus cases
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – China reported 45 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for March 28, down from 54 on the previous day, with all but one involving travelers from overseas, the country’s health authority said on Sunday. The number of so-called “imported” cases also fell from 54 on the previous day, data from the National...
Australia PM says social distancing helping to slow coronavirus spread
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia’s rate of the spread of the novel coronavirus has halved in recent days, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday as he announced an additional A$1.1 billion ($680 million) to expand telemedicine care and other health services. Morrison said that the daily increase in cases in recent days was at about...
Spanish PM announces stricter lockdown measures to tackle coronavirus
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday announced stricter lockdown measures that will force all non-essential workers to stay at home for the next two weeks, as the government reported 832 new coronavirus deaths overnight. The latest moves to combat the virus in Spain, the second-worst affected country in Europe after Italy,...
29th March
At home with coronavirus, UK’s Johnson writes to the nation
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is self-isolating at 10 Downing Street after testing positive for coronavirus, will write to every UK household to urge people to stay at home. Johnson, who has described his symptoms as mild, is leading the government’s response to the crisis, chairing meetings by video conference. The health minister, Matt...
UK coronavirus death toll under 20,000 would be ‘good result’, says health chief
LONDON (Reuters) – The United Kingdom will do well if it manages to keep the coronavirus death toll below 20,000, a senior health official said on Saturday after the deadliest day so far of the outbreak saw the number of fatalities rise to more than 1,000. Stephen Powis, the medical director of National Health Service...
Italy coronavirus death toll surges past 10,000; lockdown extension likely
MILAN (Reuters) – The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy barrelled past 10,000 on Saturday, a figure that made an extension of a national lockdown almost certain. Officials said 889 more people died in the previous 24 hours, the second highest daily tally since the epidemic emerged on Feb. 21, and that...
Hundreds to be evacuated from coronavirus-hit ship off Panama
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Hundreds of passengers on a cruise ship, where four people have died and over 130 others have influenza-like symptoms, including at least two with the coronavirus, will be transferred to a sister ship, Panamanian authorities said on Saturday. “The ship which could not dock at any port in South America will...
With eye on election, Trump in high-stakes balancing act over coronavirus response
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump offered a preview of his re-election campaign playbook last year when he visited the building site of a multi-billion-dollar cracking unit in western Pennsylvania, hailed as one of the largest construction projects in the country. To Trump, it was a pitch-perfect example of a booming economy. Except...
New York’s Cuomo postpones primary election as coronavirus cases keep growing
(Reuters) – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday he was postponing the state’s April 28 presidential primary to June 23 as its number of coronavirus cases climbed to 52,318 and deaths to 728. “We have been behind this virus from day one. We are waiting to see what the virus does,” Cuomo said...
North Korea launches apparent ballistic missile into ocean
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea fired at least one unidentified projectile into the ocean off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday, with Japan’s Ministry of Defense reporting that it appeared to be a ballistic missile. The ministry said that the missile did not land in Japanese territory or its...
Trump floats New York lockdown to contain virus; governor says idea is ‘anti-American’
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Saturday he might prohibit travel in and out of the New York area to limit the spread of the coronavirus from its U.S. epicenter, but the state’s governor dubbed the idea “anti-American” and said he would not cooperate. As the U.S. death count crossed 2,000, doubling...
From quills to qwerty: Lloyd’s underwriters adapt to home working
LONDON (Reuters) – Thousands of London’s underwriters took their stamps and fountain pens home last week, which they use to sign insurance contracts, but they won’t need them. Working at home due to the coronavirus lockdown, they have abandoned the normal tools of their trade and are turning to email and other electronic systems to...
